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FROM THE 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 



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7 1864. 



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AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS IN EUROPE. 



FROM THE REPORT 



OF THE 



1864. 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS IN EUROPE. 



These schools are of two kinds. Those which are connected, 
either directly or indirectly, with universities, and those which 
are independent of other institutions. With the former there 
is, in most cases, an experimental farm for the purpose of illus- 
tration and instruction, though the students are not expected to 
work on it ; but in some cases it consists of a simple professor- 
ship, as at Edinburgh. AVith the latter, the higher institutes 
do not invariably expect the students to labor, though this is 
sometimes the case ; but the location is, nearly always, if not 
invariably, upon a large estate, where the students can work or 
not, as they choose, the farm being carried on by hired labor or 
by students of an intermediate or lower school of practical 
agriculture connected with it. 

I visited many of both descriptions, introduced myself to the 
professors, mingled with the students, attended lectures, joined 
in excursions, and in every way attempted to make myself 
familiar with their practical working and efficiency. 

INSTITUTE AT JENA. 

As soon as I arrived at Jena I visited the laboratory and col- 
lections, was introduced to the director. Dr. Stockhardt, and was 
politely entertained by his agreeable family. He very kindly 
placed much yiformation in regard to the school at my disposal. 

The Agricultural Institute at Jena is designed to educate 
young farmers, political economists and financiers. 

For such young men, especially, as have already spent some 
time in the practical operations of farming on large or medium- 
sized estates, it offers an opportunity to educate themselves 
scientifically in their department. - But for such as will prepare 
themselves for political economists and financiers, it offers that 
special instruction in agriculture which is essential to them. 



6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Connection op the Institute with the University. — Tiie 
institute is an integral part of the university at Jena, and is 
under the same government. The director and most of the 
professors are also connected with the university ; those who 
enter the institute for farmers are matriculated as students at 
the university, and attain thereby all the rights, and assuilie 
also all the responsibilities of academical students, the same as 
in any other department of the university. 

The advantages which the institute gains through the union 
with the university, pertain in part to the means of instruction, 
and in part to the spirit of the academical life. 

To the means of instruction of the university which the 
members of the institute can enjoy, belong, besides the lectures 
on those parts of natural science and political economy which 
are not to be had in an isolated institute, and the lectures upon 
mathematics, philosophy, history, general law, &c., the library, 
the botanical garden, the mineralogical museum, the zoological 
cabinet, the observatory, the gymnasium, the riding, swimming 
and boxing schools, &c. 

In consequence of the use of these means of instruction, the 
institute stands in an independent relation with the university, 
which secures it great advantages; yet far more important is 
the more intimate connection with it, that is, the necessity that 
its instruction of the same principles should be more general 
and comprehensive, and fundamentally scientific, like that of 
the university, that the institute, through an intimate sympathy 
in the emulation of the university students, and in connection 
with them should realize the idea of German university life, 
and thereby advance the higher education of students in agri- 
culture and political economy. 

Objects of Instruction. — Tiie sciences useful to the farmer 
which the institute teaches, are as follows : — 

1. Sciences relating to the branches of agriculture. Sciences 
bearing on tiie cultivation of agricultural plants, in its whole 
range, as climate, soils, cultivation, tillage, manuring, seed, 
after-culture, harvesting, culture of grains, mercantile and 
fodder [)lants, fruits, &c. The breeding of animals, in its 
whole range, the principles of breeding, nourishment and care, 
raising, keeping and use of particular sorts and races of 
domestic animals ; farm management, with all its branches, 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 7 

book-keeping, valuation, &c. ; agricultural excursions, demon- 
strations and conversations. 

2. Fundamental and auxiliary sciences of agriculture. 

National economy, agricultural history and statistics, agricul- 
tural law, physics, meteorology, general chemistry, agricultural 
chemistry, practice in the laboratory, qualitative analysis, 
quantitative demonstration of agricultural materials, grains, 
oil fruits, guano, other kinds of manures, soils, plant ashes. 
Mineralogy and geognosy, including knowledge and classifica- 
tion of soils. Botany, with special reference to the physiology 
of plants ; including botanical excursions, instruction in for- 
estry, care and use of woodlands. Gardening. Zoology, with 
special reference to knowledge of insects. Veterinary science, 
anatomy and physiology of domestic animals on the farm ; 
pathology and therapeutics, chirurgery, shoeing, &c. Mechanics 
and machinery, agricultural machinery and implements, their 
construction and use. Agricultural technology, distilling, brew- 
ing, sugar malcing, bread making, manufacture of vinegar, 
including technological excursions. Geodosy, use of the sur- 
veyor's chain and theodolite, field measuring, levelling, agricul- 
tural mechanics. 

The arrangement of these various branches is such, that those 
bearing on agriculture, national economy and the natural 
sciences generally, are repeated annually, some of them twice a 
year, and others only every two or three years. 

For the ancient and modern languages, the fine arts and 
all gymnastic exercises, the university offers extraordinary 
opportunities to those who desire it. 

Besides the above-named lectures, excursions and conversa- 
tions, the institute offers all essential means of instruction, such 
as the public domain at Zwatzen and Lehesten, embracing 
about 1,400 acres ; with a numerous herd of cattle, a distillery, 
brewery, and silk-raising establishment, which serve as means 
of illustration ; 

An agricultural botanic garden, attached to the botanic gar- 
den of the university ; 

A well-appointed chemical laboratory with a sufficient number 
of convenient working desks ; 

Collections of minerals and earths, dried plants and seeds, 
models of fruits, collections of insects, technical apparatus, so 
far as requisite for reference in the lectures ; 



\ 



8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

A valuable agricultural library for tbe use of the students; 

A reading room where all the agricultural papers are taken ; 

Au infirmary for sick animals, with a room for operations and 
necessary tools ; 

A rich collection of pathological preparations and objects. 

Special lots are set apart for experiments. Besides this there 
is a government experimental station at Jena. The object of 
this is to develop the natural laws which relate to agriculture, 
through scientific investigations and experiments conducted in 
the most scientific manner. It is requisite that young men should 
learn how to institute and conduct scientific investigations. 

Kind op Instruction. — The university is distinguished from 
other institutes of instruction, less through what it teaches than 
the mode adopted. The agricultural institute is a constituent 
part of the university and must be an active member of its 
organism, and therefore it must maintain a mode of teaching 
consistent with the claims of a university, that the instruction 
imparted may incite to self-activity ; that the student may 
attain, by the wise use of academical freedom, the objects of 
his college course, as far as possible, through self-culture ; and 
he may, as far as possible, be thoroughly educated, not in one 
or two branches, but in all. So far as regards instruction 
in agriculture, the professors strive to make it enthusiastic, 
intelligible and practical. 

Course op Instruction. — The course of instruction in the 
principal sciences can be completed in four half-yearly' terms, 
but the student is advised to pay more attention to auxiliary 
branches, which require a three years course. But the subjects 
are so arranged that new members can enter twice a year, in 
spring and in autumn. Every one on entering is expected to 
make known his objects and intentions, and the time he can 
devote to theoretical studies. 

The beginning and ending of tlie institute lectures are gov-^ 
erned by the terms and vacations of the university, and public 
announcements are made through the public journals. They 
generally begin at the end of April and the end of October. 
The members of the institute devote their vacations to agricul- 
tural excursions or to a visit to some landed estate. The 
students can room in the buildings of the university, or in 
private houses in the city. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. . 9 

The cost of tuition for agricultural students is, for the first 
term, 64 Prussian thalers, or $40.50, for the second, |36, for 
the third, $18, for the fourth, $4.50. There is a matriculation 
fee at the university of about $5, a half-yearly lecture fee of 75 
cents, a payment to the treasury of a hospital society, a sort of 
insurance against sickness, of 25 cents, and a few other small 
regular sums to be paid, including the diploma on graduation, 
of $1.62^. Then, if the agricultural students attend auy of the 
strictly university courses of lectures, they have to pay the same 
fees as other students. For lodging, including study and 
sleeping room, furnished with sofa, chairs, table, bed and other 
necessary articles, and attendance, from $7.50 to $15 a term. 
For heating and lighting, in winter, $7.50 to $12 ; also $1.50 
for " boots," and $3 to $5 a term for washing. 

The candidate for admission must bring a certificate from the 
magistrate of the place where he has last resided ; a consent of 
father or guardian to enter the institute ; a certificate of his 
teachers, and an explicit description of his past life. He must 
have sufficient knowledge of elementary studies and the German 
language to understand scientific lectures, but no formal exam- 
ination is required on admission. 

An attendance at a high school, or a polytechnic school, at 
least up to the higher classes, or at some practical school, and 
one, two or three years passed in practical work on a farm, is 
recommended as a preparation for admission to this institute. 

The following is the arrangement of lectures at this insti- 
tute : — 



10 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 





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SECRETARY'S REPORT. 11 

There are eleven professors and instructors of the institute. 
The number of students is at present one hundred and ten, 
ranging in ages from 18 to 21 years, I should think. The 

SCHOOL OP PRACTICAL FARMING 

is at Zwatzen, but a short distance off. In that the sons of 
peasants are educated, and they have to work their way. 

The general oversight of this practical school resides in the 
Ministry of the Interior of the Grand Duchy, the direction is 
committed to Prof. Stockhardt, of Jena, and the immediate 
management to a superintendent on the place. 

The object of the school is to give its pupils an education 
which will fit them for the skilful practical management of 
middling-sized and small estates. 

The course of instruction extends over twp years, and is 
devoted to the following objects : Religion, the German lan- 
guage, arithmetic and geometry, drawing, singing, geography 
and history ; physics and natural history, agriculture, meadow 
management, fruit and garden culture, cattle-breeding, instruc- 
tion in the carrying on of the farm in the most skilful manner, 
book-keeping, agricultural mechanics, and field measuring. 

The division of these objects of instruction is so arranged 
that in addition to the school studies comes teaching in general 
preparatory sciences and the different branches of agriculture. 
Besides suitable means of instruction, is the opportunity of 
observation on the estate at Zwatzen, and the advantage of 
veterinary lectures and teaching in the Veterinary School at 
Jena. 

The employment on the land belonging to the school, which 
has recently been increased, as well as in the workshop for the 
manufacture of agricultural implements, serves as a practical 
illustration of the instruction in the school, and as a means of 
preparation for the future calling. 

The pupils live with the family of the superintendent and 
his assistants, and all eat at the same table. They are expected 
to have had some practice in farm labor on admittance. 
Natives pay 80 thalers or $60 a year, others 175, for instruc- 
tion, lodging and board. The admission of new students takes 
place in the spring and fall. 



12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Here is a notice translated from the printed circular, or pro- 
gramme : " Every pupil, as he enters, has to bring with him 
a bed, with three coverlids, — the school furnishes bedstead and 
mattress, — one Sunday and two week-day suits, a trunk to 
keep his clothes and linen in, 6 shirts, 2 pairs of stockings, 6 
towels, 6 pocket-handkerchiefs, 2 blue aprons, 2 pairs of boots, 
a pair of slippers, a comb, a wash-bowl", 2 plates, a couple of 
knives and forks, a spoon, a couple of cups and saucers, clothes 
and shoe brushes, — all to be marked, if possible." It's a con- 
venient thing to have one's wardrobe so minutely specified. 

As I have alluded to the agricultural school at Jena, con- 
nected with the university, I will also say a word in regard to 
one or two others of the same class ; that is, connected in a 
similar manner with other institutions. 

POPPELSDORP, NEAR BONN. 

The agricultural college at Poppelsdorf, connected with the 
university at Bonn, I had taken in my trip up the Rhine. It 
is some ten miles above Cologne, beautifully situated on the 
left bank of the river, within sight of the far-famed Siebenge- 
birge, or seven mountains, and the Drachenfels. Bonn is 
beautified by the most attractive terraces along the river, and 
a magnificent .avenue leading to Poppelsdorf, nearly a mile, 
studded with superb chestnuts in double rows, on either side. 

I called at once on Dr. Hartstein, the director of the agricul- 
tural school, who kindly gave me the information I sought in 
regard to its present position and prosperity. Close by his house 
is an ancient castle, now used as a depository of the extensive 
scientific collections belonging to the university, to which the 
students in agriculture have access. The model farm of the 
agricultural institute is also close at hand. This is used for 
the purposes of experiment, and the crops on the experimental 
plots were very striking. Extensive mulberry hedges surround 
the fields, and the silk-worm was in the full tide of successful 
operation. 

The scientific lectures extend over not only the branches 
requisite in the department of agriculture, but also the funda- 
mental and auxiliary sciences connected with it, viz.: — 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 13 

(<2.) Agriculture in its whole range as a leading science, 
and especially 

1. The science of tillage, which is divided into a general and 
special branch. In the one are the knowledge of soils, manures 
and the working of the land, the seed, care of the crop, and 
harvesting of agricultural products in general is taught ; in the 
other, more exact instruction is given, as to the judicious culti- 
vation of each one of these products. In this connection the 
formation of permanent meadows, and especially artificial 
meadows, is considered. 

2. The science of cattle breeding, or the production of ani- 
mals, which also includes a general and a special course. In 
the first, instruction is given as to the different races, the pair- 
ing, breeding, feeding, care and fattening of cattle in general ; 
in the second, the breeding of cattle, sheep, horses, swine, &c., 
in particular. 

3. The proper farm management, taking in the whole agri- 
cultural profession, and including general rules and principles. 
The principal divisions are, the objects of agriculture, land, 
capital and labor, sale and leasing of estates, different systems 
of agriculture, the arrangement and direction of farms, and of 
taxation and book-keeping. 

To these lectures upon agriculture are added those on fruit 
management, garden, fruit and vineyard culture. 
(&.) Chief and auxiliary sciences. 

1. The natural sciences, chemistry and physics, zoology, 
botany and mineralogy, with special reference to agriculture, 
and so far as they are of importance, to the farmer in the over- 
sight and judicious direction of his estate. 

2. Mathematical sciences, especially applied geometry, stere- 
ometry, statics, hydrostatics and machinery connected with the 
practice in field measuring, levelling, drawing of plans, &c. 

3. Popular agricultural literature, so far as it serves as a 
safe ground-work for practical agricultural instruction. 

4. Agricultural technology. 

5. Veterinary science. 

6. Agricultural mechanics. 

7. Laws relating to agriculture and the cultivation of lands. 

8. History, statistics and literature of agriculture. 



14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The farm connected with the institute serves for practical 
ilhistration, as well as the excursions which, from time to time, 
are taken in the neighborhood, and during vacations, also, into 
more distant regions. The institute is in want of no auxiliary 
means of making the theoretical and practical instruction most 
useful. Among these are the chemical laboratory, erected espe- 
cially for agricultural investigation, the physical apparatus and 
the instruments for land measuring and levelling, the collection 
of minerals and ores, the zoological and veterinary collection, 
the collection of models and implements, and of wool, the library, 
the economic botanic garden, the botanical collection and the 
estate, with the experimental fields and the vineyard. Besides 
these peculiar means of instruction of the institute, the use of 
the rich collections and apparatus of the university, the royal 
university library, botanic garden and natural history museum, 
is available. 

Students pay an entrance fee of six thalers, and a fee for 
tuition of forty thalers, or thirty dollars, for the first term. 
The amount for the second term is thirty thalers, the third 
twenty and the fourth ten, making the fee for the whole course 
of two years, one hundred thalers, or seventy-five dollars. 

The lectures embrace a two years' course, the terras being 
arranged to conform with those of the university. The special 
plan of instruction is made known each term. The school is 
designed for those who desire to educate themselves for skilful 
farmers, and those who devote themselves to the studies of 
the university, and at the same time wish to become familiar 
with the operations of agriculture. Students who are entered 
at the university of Bonn, and enrolled in any of the faculties, 
can attend the agricultural] lectures on application to -the 
director. 

Applicants have to bring certificates of good conduct. No 
proof of specific attainments in elementary school studies is 
required, but it is desired that, before visiting the institute, the 
pupil should be familiar with the practical manipulations of 
farming, and be able to show proof of it. 

On admission, the student is matriculated and enrolled in 
the faculty of philosophy at the university. By this he acquires 
all the rights and undertakes all the obligations of. the univer- 
sity students. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 15 

The whole establishment is under the control of the royal 
ministry for agricultural affairs at Berlin. 

The experimental farm, close by the school, contains, I 
believe, about seventy acres. I visited the barns and out-build- 
ings, all of which appeared to be in admirable condition, a place 
for everything and everything in its place. 

But seven or eight cows are kept, and those are all Dutch, 
which are thought there to be among the best for milk. No 
experiments appear to be made there to test the comparative 
merits of different breeds. A long series of experiments in the 
fields near the house seemed to be conducted in the most careful 
manner. Many of the plots of wheat were of extraordinary 
growth. A great variety of plants are cultivated, chiefly for 
the purpose of instruction. 

I visited Gissen, Gottingen and Halle, with each of which 
universities there is an agricultural department connected, but 
they do not differ materially, so far as I could learn, from those 
at Jena and Bonn. 

GEISBERG. 

The agricultural institute at Geisberg near Wiesbaden is the 
principal if not the only one of the kind in the Duchy of Nassau. 
I visited it in July. It stands on an elevated plateau overlook- 
ing a most enchanting region of country, with the fashionable 
invalid resort of Wiesbaden close by, while at a little distance 
rolls the winding Rhine between its vine-clad hills. The cele- 
brated vineyard of Johannisberg is not far down tlie river. 
This school differs from most others in giving instruction only 
in winter. 

It is on the isolated and independent plan, and is designed 
for the instruction of practical farmers, without teaching prac- 
tice on the place. Applicants must be sixteen years old, 
possess a good elementary education, and a good " character." 
They have to bring a written certificate of willingness on the 
part of the parent or guardian that they should enter the 
school, and it is expected that pupils shall have spent one or 
more summers in work on the farm before they enter. If the 
requisite certificate of proficiency in the elementary studies can- 
not be produced, or if it is not satisfactory, the applicant is 
examined, and either rejected or accepted with conditions, not 



16 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

unlike the practice in entering Harvard College, where compar- 
atively few get in without " conditions." 

Each pupil is required to attend all the lectures ; but they 
have a class of pupils as they have at Hohenheim, called hospi- 
tanten, or students who take only the partial course. 

The theoretical instruction is given in a regular course of two 
winters, the term beginning on the fifteenth of October of each 
year, and ending on the thirty-first of March. During the 
intervening summer they are either at home, at work on the 
farm, or, if they desire it, the director of the institute procures 
them suitable places with skilful practical farmers. 

Natives of Nassau pay no tuition. Outsiders pay forty-four 
florins, or about eighteen dollars, a year. All the pupils board 
in the town of Wiesbaden. The instruction is by lectures and 
written and verbal questions on the studies. After the return 
of the students from their summer's work on the farm, they are 
required within six weeks to present a full written detail of 
operations, which, after suitable corrections, are returned to the 
writer. 

The parents or guardians are informed, from time to time, of 
the industry and conduct of the pupil. Gambling, so fashion- 
able and exciting at Wiesbaden, is forbidden, and no student is 
allowed to smoke or to keep a dog. 

The institute possesses a library, which appeared to be toler- 
ably well stocked, very good collections and fine lecture and 
study rooms. It is on rather a small scale as compared with 
some others, though it may be called one of the superior class. 
It was founded in 1835, and, as. may be inferred from what has 
been said above, on the principle that it is of no use to try to 
teach the theory and practice at the same school. There is a 
small farm connected with the school, but, judging from the 
helter-skelter, or generally mixed-up condition of everything 
about the premises, I should think they were quite right in not 
attempting to teach practice there. Old ploughs, drags, carts, 
harrows and every thing else lay around the buildings in no 
small confusion. When I drove into the yard I felt sure we 
had made some mistake, and had got upon the premises of a 
very slovenly farmer, but the driver was sure he was right, and 
the result justified his topographical knowledge. The farm 
buildings are irregular and crowded, not large or imposing, but 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 17 

rather ordinary in every respect, though the building used by 
the students and the collections was better. 

These collections consisted of minerals, birds, quadrupeds, 
seeds, grains and grasses, and a fine collection of wax fruits. 

The instruction embraces, in the first term or winter, the 
German language, arithmetic, botany, mineralogy, physics, gen- 
eral agriculture, cultivation of meadows, rural architecture 
and veterinary science. In the second winter the boys take up 
zoology, physics, farm accounts, special agriculture, special 
zootechny, horticulture, technology, veterinary medicine and 
composition. 

The director had left for the International Exhibition at 
Hamburg, so that I was obliged to find my way about without 
much assistance. The price of farm labor there, I learned, was 
thirty-six kreutzers, or twenty-four cents, a day, the men board- 
ing themselves. 

HOHENHEIM. 

Many a grand enterprise, like many an illustrious man, grows 
up from small beginnings. Schwertz, who may be called the 
founder of the agricultural school at Hohenheim, began its 
direction towards the close of the year 1818, with only eight 
pupils, six of whom were natives of Wiirtemberg, and two from 
abroad. It is now generally admitted, and I think with justice, 
to stand at the head of the institutions for agricultural education 
in Europe. I propose, therefore, to enter, to some extent, into 
the details of this establishment, and to dwell upon them at 
length, even at the risk of being tedious. 

I arrived at this celebrated agricultural institute on the 29th 
of July, and took a room, such as is occupied by the students, in 
the building, prepared to stay some days, or till I could " get 
the hang of it." It was a strange feeling that came over me at 
first, in the midst of a crowd of rollicking German students, 
rooming among them, eating with them, and mingling with them 
in their walks, in the lecture room, and in the long corridors of 
this quaint old ducal palace, a monument of the wealth, the 
luxury and the morals of a century ago, on which hangs a tale, 
which I have not time to unfold. 

Hohenheim is some seven or eight miles from Stuttgart, the 
capital of the kingdom of Wiirtemberg, the road lying through 
3 



18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

vineyards and orchards and royal forests. Long before my 
arrival at head-quarters it was easy to see that I was riding 
through the fields of the institute. The fruit trees were labelled 
and numbered, the fields and the rotation upon them, were 
iudicated by stakes and cards, and everything gave evidence of 
thrift and skill and scientific management. What capital roads ! 
Nothing but a royal decree could have lined them everywhere 
with cherry and apple and pear trees, stretching away as far as 
the eye could reach. No fences mar the open landscape, either 
along the highway or on the division lines. There is a little foot- 
path that leads through the woods, a beautiful, shaded walk to 
Kleinhohenheim. 

But here we are at the very door, at this fountain-head of 
agricultural science. I introduced myself at once to Professor 
Rau, whom I already knew well by reputation, and found him 
quite free to communicate all the information in his power ; to 
accompany me to the various parts of the establishment and the 
farm, and to give me access to the lectures which should take 
place during my stay. He placed in my hands a beautiful royal 
octavo, which had just appeared, a Beschreibung der land-und 
forstwirthschaftlichen Akademie Hohenheim, containing many 
illustrations and historical sketches of the estate, the course of 
instruction and management of each department, the experi- 
ments and the stock, and to this, and the other documents 
which he gave me, I am indebted for much of the information I 
am about to present, in regard to this school of agriculture. 

Hohenheim really consisted, for some years, of three quite 
distinct schools, which, though erected on the same estate, and, 
as it were, under the same roof, were, and still are, as indepen- 
dent of each other, in most respects, as if at opposite ends of the 
kingdom. 

1st. The institute or school of agriculture, for young gentle- 
men. 

2d. The school of forestry. 

3d. The school of practical farming, for the sons of peasants. 

The lands, plantations, gardens and nurseries connected with 
the old chateau are wholly devoted to the purposes of the three 
establishments, and serve professors as well as pupils for illus- 
tration and experiment ; while the extensive royal forests in the 
neighborhood and lengthy excursions made every year, give a 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 19 

wide range of observation, especially for students in the manage- 
ment of forests. 

The agricultural institute originated, in a measure, from the 
establishment of the agricultural society of Wiirtemberg, in 1817, 
when the necessity of a model farm and an institute of instruc- 
tion and experiment became strikingly apparent, as a means of 
the development and the elevation of agriculture in the estima- 
tion of the people. 

The success and popularity of the school, founded in 1806 
by the illustrious Thaer, at Mogiin, in Prussia, had no doubt 
contributed largely to this feeling among the agriculturists of 
Wiirtemberg. Thaer's enterprise was undertaken at first on 
his own private account, and so continued till the year 1819, 
thirteen years after its commencement. It so happened that 
the introduction and spread of fine-woolled or Merino sheep 
into Northern Europe, and especially upon the farm at Mog- 
iin, near Berlin, concurred to attract to this private effort a 
large share of public attention, while the reputation of Thaer 
rapidly grew at home and abroad, not only as a consequence of 
the success of his school, but likewise from his valuable publi- 
cations. His school was therefore taken under the patronage 
of the government, as a royal academy, but the management of 
the estate still remained at the risk and expense of the owners, 
the instruction only being paid by the government. This led 
to a mixed arrangement, the evils of which very soon began to 
develop themselves, and in time to be avoided at Hohenheim, 
where the whole establishment was taken under the control of 
the government, and located upon a royal domain. 

A part of this domain happening, at that time, to be under 
lease, it was necessary to begin the instruction on the small 
adjoining estate of Carlshof, consisting of only 255 acres. A 
small beginning was therefore a matter of necessity, and this 
was to continue till the year 1822, when the broad estates of 
Hohenheim would be at the service of the institute, at the head 
of which stood Schwertz, who was placed, by the confidence of 
the king, in full control of the property, with only the assistance 
of a farm inspector and two of his pupils. He personally 
arranged everything, and even managed the finances of the 
school, which, for the first two years, remained on this simple 
foundation, as a purely agricultural institute. But in the year 



20 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

1820, the school for the management of forests, which had 
previously existed at Stuttgart, was removed to Carlshof and 
placed under the direction of Schwertz, though still independent 
for all the purposes of instruction. The greater number of 
students were then, as they are at present, students of agricul- 
ture. Last year ('61-62) for instance, there were 124 agricul- 
tural students and biit 37 foresters. 

The limited number of foresters may be owing in part to the 
rigorous conditions of admission to the forest school, the appli- 
cants for which must have practiced in the management of 
woods for at least two years under a head steward of forests. 
It was thought that a general connection of instruction in 
forestry with that in agriculture would have some important ad- 
vantages, as, for instance, for the pupils of the agricultural insti- 
tute, who are either owners or to become, in future, stewards 
of large estates, in which the management of forests would 
often be of great importance, while the contact of a class of 
students who have to submit to a rigid examination on which 
their future success will largely depend, would be very useful 
as an example of good conduct and studious habits, to students 
in the agricultural institute who are not obliged to work. It 
would be a desirable stimulant to exertion. Then the union 
would enable the two to give a wider range to the instruction 
in both, the students of each having an opportunity to avail 
themselves of lectures which they could not otherwise have, so 
that the foresters, for instance, could get a general knowledge 
of agriculture which they would not gain in a special school. 

Experience has accordingly justified this change, and the 
arrangement still exists. 

Originally the whole instruction in agriculture was given by 
Schwertz, who taught general and special plant culture, cattle 
breeding, vine culture, book-keeping, &c. Two professors were 
soon appointed, one of mathematics and the other of the auxili- 
ary natural sciences, while instruction in veterinary science was 
given by the medical councillor-in-chief of the government, who 
went over from Stuttgart once a week for the purpose. The 
removal of the forest school added one only to the corps of 
instruction, but on the acquisition, in 1822, of the domain at 
Hohenheim, the farming operations became still more extended, 
and men scientifically educated were required in each chief 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 21 

branch of farming, and an instructor in sheep breeding, another 
in agricultural technology, and another in the culture and 
management of fruit-trees, were appointed, from time to time, as 
the exigencies required. 

Pupils in the higher or agricultural institute paid, if natives 
of Wiirtemberg, |164 for tuition, lodging and board, or if from 
abroad, $205 ; and all ate at a general table. But in 1825 it 
was thought more convenient to separate the cost of board from 
the other charges, and the price of tuition and room was fixed 
at ill for natives and f 123 for strangers. All were required 
to room in the building till 1842, since which time the pupils 
have had the liberty to board out of the institute if they 
choose. 

It will be seen that the agricultural institute is founded upon 
a large and liberal basis, and everything that strikes the eye 
would lead one to think that it is the chief and most important 
object ; yet, important as it is, it is probable that the practical 
results of the School of Practical Farming, the Ackerbanschule, 
are quite as valuable as those of the institute, which makes 
greater pretensions and enjoys greater facilities for instruction 
in the higher sciences. 

This school of Practical Farming was begun at the close of 
1818, with ten stout boys of 14 years of age from the orphans 
in Stuttgart and other cities. These boys had but one instruc- 
tor, who had to keep them at work and train them to the 
greatest possible activity, order, and good conduct. They 
received to some extent the theoretical instruction of the 
students in the higher institute, but in 1824 they began to have 
more or less theoretical instruction adapted to the capacity of 
each, and to their future designs. 

This practical school was modified in 1829, when the num- 
ber was extended to 25, and instead of taking orphans as 
heretofore, the sons of peasants especially, were to be admitted, 
between the ages of 16 and 18, who, as they were already 
familiar with the ordinary routine of farm work, could be 
immediately useful on the farm and taught the improved 
processes of agriculture in a shorter time. 

They are required to spend three years at Hohenheim, and 
must be natives of Wiirtemberg. Their instruction in the 
theory of agriculture is limited to two hours a day. 



22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The arrangement with regard to orplians was kept np, the 
number being limited to twenty-five, who were required to 
spend two years at Hohenheim, in order to get sufficient agri- 
cultural knowledge to be capable of becoming teachers in 
schools for the advancement of agriculture in their own dis- 
tricts, but this arrangement was given up in 1828 on account 
of the cost. 

Special Courses. — A school of gardening was established 
in 184-1 at the same place, but still independent of the others. 
Six pupils only were admitted into this, and each must have 
attained the age of seventeen years. Each applicant must have 
spent three years as gardener or vintager, or attended the 
course at a farm school, and the garden school aimed in one 
course to perfect what had previously been begun in the art of 
gardening and fruit culture. Then, in addition, there were 
established at the same place, special courses for orchardists, 
meadow husbandry, shepherds and school teachers. 

The course for orchardists, which has been continued since 
1850, was designed for young men of 18 years and upward 
who wished to prepare themselves for managers of the fruit 
trees belonging to the communes or parishes, of which there 
are immense numbers everywhere around the villages and high- 
ways of the kingdom. This course lasts* from four to five 
weeks in the spring of each year, and a few days later in summer 
for practice in grafting. On account of the crowd of applicants 
to this course, in the last few years, from all parts of the king- 
dom, it became necessary to extend it to three courses a year, 
with from fifteen to twenty pupils in each, so that now this 
theoretic and practical instruction in fruit culture continues 
from the middle of March to the end of May, and a continua- 
tion of the course occurs also in August. 

The five weeks' course upon the technical management of 
meadows, has been continued regularly in the spring since 
1855, whenever there has been a sufficient number of appli- 
cants. It includes the art of treating meadows, field drainage, 
the establishment of boundaries or practice in applied geom- 
etry, for those who wish to perfect themselves in farm engineer- 
ing. The number of attendants on this course has averaged 8. 

The course of instruction for shepherds was opened for the 
first time in 1855, and has continued uninterruptedly since with 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 23 

an average of 10 to 12 attendants. Applicants are required to 
be over 20 years old and to have been in practice with shep- 
herds four years. The course takes place in February and 
lasts four weeks. 

To these courses was added another in 1860, for school teach- 
ers, which is limited to three weeks in the autumn vacations of 
the public schools. The principal object is to provide the 
means of a continuation of their agricultural education, which 
was found to be needed in many parts of the country. Such 
teachers only are invited to attend this course as have busied 
themselves on their own or on the school grounds, with agricul- 
tural labors, in the formation of means for improvement in 
agricultural education. The instruction embraces the whole 
of agricultural labor, with special researches into the imperfec- 
tions and failings which appear in different parts of the country. 
The number who may attend each course is fixed at 25. 

Instruction in these several courses is given partly by the 
regular corps of professors of the institute, and partly by per- 
sons from abroad who make a specialty of certain pursuits, who 
go to Hohenheim for the purpose, and the arrangement is such 
that the pupils during their stay in Hohenheim are occupied 
the whole of each day, partly in hearing lectures,. and partly in 
demonstrations in the field, in the stalls, in the collections, or 
in excursions, and partly in the solution of prescribed tasks. 

These may be called regularly established courses of special 
instruction. But in addition, what may be called extraordinary 
or occasional courses, are also given, as, for instance, in 1853, a 
course upon silk culture, another on bee culture and on the 
nursery business. They took place in the afternoon of each 
Wednesday, from four to six, and were attended by twenty 
young men, mostly sub-teachers or assistants in the schools. 
In 1855, another course was given upon silk culture, designed 
for the pupils of the normal schools, of whom one hundred and 
thirty-four attended. A similar course of agricultural instruc- 
tion was given in 1861 for the school teachers in the jurisdiction 
of Stuttgart, in which fifty-two teachers of the public schools 
engaged. The lectures were accompanied by demonstrations 
in the field, and in the collections, an afternoon of each week, 
and the design was to prepare the teachers for holding evening 
agricultural schools in winter. And so in 1852-3, on the occa- 



24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

sion of considerable changes in the laws regarding distilled 
liquors, two courses of instruction were given to the revenue 
officers upon the processes of distilling. One lasted ten days 
and the other twelve, and was attended by over sixty officers of 
the revenue who desired the information. And so, also, a vast 
amount of labor is done and information imparted in answer 
to letters and through numerous publications by the professors, 
all of which widen the circle of influence of the institution. 

The means of instruction in the institute proper were limited, 
as already stated, at the foundation, to a physical and mathe- 
matical apparatus, an outfit for the chemical laboratory and a 
little natural history collection, for which the queen had 
contributed a thousand florins, and this was confined strictly to 
agriculture. Still with the small number of pupils it was made 
the means of important instruction in special branches. As for 
the farm a greatly improved arrangement of lands was adopted 
than that common in the neighborhood, either then or at 
present. Schwertz, who was born at Coblentz in 1759, and 
who was familiar with the agriculture of Belgium, where it was 
carried on in the highest perfection then known, not only got 
many improved implements but also a skilful foreman who was 
acquainted with their use and could teach it to others. 

An implement manufactory formed a part of the design, one 
that should not only supply the wants of the farm with the best 
tools, but be the means of introducing the most improved imple- 
ments into the country, and the institute was extremely fortu- 
nate in getting the right man for the place, one who had been 
with Fellenberg at Hofwyl, as an implement maker, and who 
not only answered expectations, but soon won a high reputation 
for the implement branch of the establishment by the strengtli 
and goodness of the work. 

In 1852, and each year since, arrangements were made for 
the purpose of securing a more rapid and general spread of 
improved agricultural implements throughout the country 
whereby master wheelwrights and smiths were provided with 
an opportunity by a stay of some six or ten days in the imple- 
ment manufactory at Hohenheim, of becoming familiar by 
observation, handling, drawings, models, &c., with the course 
of business and the manner of manufacture there, and the 
master mechanic took it upon himself to give the requisite 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 25 

explanations. Up to this time no less than seventy-seven 
master smiths and fifty-eight master wheelwrights have availed 
themselves of this opportunity to perfect themselves in their 
business. 

But as imperfect and defective as were the arrangements at 
the outset, at Hohenheim, there was one thing that neither the 
director nor the pupils were in want of, and that was an earnest 
love for their work and an enthusiasm for the high reputation 
of the new institute. It was not the least of the merits of 
Schwertz that he knew how to infuse such an enthusiasm into 
all his pupils. Where such a spirit reigns great things are 
easily developed from small. Forty-five years have now passed 
away and from the weak seed then planted a strong fruit-bear- 
ing tree has developed its wide-extended branches. From eight 
pupils of 1818, the number has increased to one hundred and 
fifty in 1863 ; and from one great professor the number has 
grown to twelve. 

Such is a brief sketch of the earlier history of the institute at 
Hohenheim. Let us look for a moment to its present position 
"and prospects. 

The domain consists of about 825 acres, not including a vast 
forest of over 5,000 acres, belonging to the government. The 
government exercises a controlling influence in the general 
management of the institute, and the reports and financial 
standing of the establishment are made to the proper authori- 
ties at Stuttgart. But at Hohenheim, the institute, as well as 
the farm with all its branches and dependencies, is under the 
immediate control of the director, who has an assistant, or sec- 
retary, also a farm assistant, who acts also as a tutor in the 
institute. There is also a treasurer and a book-keeper, a libra- 
rian, who assists in the office, an overseer in the institute, a 
house-master and a post-master. The director, at present von 
Walz, is also head teacher of agriculture, and lectures upon 
agricultural practice, taxation of property, special plant cul- 
ture and agricultural architecture. 

There are nine established professors, as follows : — 

Dr. Riecke, professor of mathematics and physics. 

Karl Siemens, professor of agricultural technology and head 
director of the implement manufactory. 



26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Dr. Fleischer, professor of geognosy and botany, and director 
of the botanic garden. 

Dr. Nordlinger, principal teacher of forestry, and steward of 
the hunting grounds at Hohenheim. 

Dr. Emil Wolff, professor of chenaistry, and director of the 
agricultural chemical laboratory. 

Dr. Rau, professor of agriculture, who lectures upon agricul- 
ture in general, plant culture, meadow management, vine, hop 
and tobacco culture, breeding of cattle, sheep and smaller ani- 
mals. 

Dr. Rueff, professor of veterinary science, who lectures upon 
zoology, horse-breeding and silk culture. 

Professor B^ischbach, second teacher of forestry and steward 
of the forests at Denkendorf. 

Besides these, there is a teacher of book-keeping, another of 
national economy and the laws of forests, a director of the garden 
school, who teaches fruit and root culture, and a head teacher, 
Mr. Kik, manager of the farm school, who gives instruction in 
bee culture. The farm inspector also conducts some agricul- 
tural exercises on the experimental field. 

These professors are appointed by the king, upon presentation 
to the minister of the interior, made by the general council of 
agriculture. 

The salary of the professors, like the pay of scientific and 
literary men generally in Germany, is very small, scarcely ade- 
quate to their support, even on a very economical establishment. 
This accounts for their prolific pens. They are compelled in 
very many, no doubt in the vast majority of cases, to write 
books, prepare articles for the scientific journals, and otherwise 
to eke out the means of a respectable support. The cost of 
living is, in some sections, a little less than with us, to be sure, 
but to live equally well, the difference is but small, so far as I 
could judge from the cost of very many articles which I could 
compare. 

The salary of the director amounts to 2,500 florins, $1,025. 
That of three professors, each 1,500 florins, $615. One profes- 
sor has but '1533. Three others have $492 each. Another, 
$348. Two assistant teachers, each $102. As the professors 
and their families room in the buildings of the chateau, which 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27 

are amply sufficient for the accommodation of all, and many 
more, I do not suppose they are charged with rent. 

The students of the higher institute are admitted, after the 
age of eighteen, without examination, on certificate of willing- 
ness on the part of parents and of industry and good conduct 
at the schools hitherto attended, and at any time during the year, 
and are held to no very rigid discipline, being required to attend 
three of the regular courses every week, which they may select. 
They rise and go to bed when they choose, and employ their 
time as they choose, and go out from the institute with an ex- 
amination. Many sons of wealthy families are no doubt attracted 
there by the beauty of the institution for an agreeable temporary 
residence. They have as complete control of their time and their 
actions, within the reasonable limits of good conduct of course^ 
as the students at our law, medical and divinity schools. It 
may not be generally known that all students in German uni- 
versities are left or thrown upon their own responsibility to a 
far greater extent than the students of any of our colleges. 
Their whole early education familiarizes them with this liberty, 
and it is not probably so liable to abuse as it would be with us. 
But it is no less true that real severe study requires the stimu- 
lus of emulation, and necessity or compulsion, especially upon 
minds not arrived at full maturity. 

The lectux'es begin at six o'clock in the morning in summer 
and at seven o'clock in the winter, and end at seven o'clock in 
the evening throughout the year. They continue with only two 
hours' intermission for dinner at noon. Two lectures, for differ- 
ent sections, are often going on at the same time. It may be 
proper to remark that there is a sort of impassable aristocratic 
barrier between the institute pupils and those of the school of 
practical agriculture. The instructors of the institute alone bear 
the title of professors, a dignity rather inaccessible to the tutors 
and teachers in the lower or school of practice, although these 
latter often give courses before the students of the institute. This 
barrier falls, no doubt, when they separate at the close of the 
course and go out to take their places in society, according to 
the capacities of each. I am inclined to think it is a fact that 
the graduates of the lower school are more successful in secur- 
ing places as stewards and managers of estates than those of the 
institute, many of whom have to rely on such positions. 



28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Since the establishment of the institute it has sent out no 
less than 2,944, including those in the school of forestry, or 
2,322 agriculturists, and 622 foresters ; while from the school 
of practice, since its opening, in 1818, to 1861, inclusive, the 
number of graduates is 334, without including some tempo- 
rary students, a few of whom are taken nearly every year. 

The Other Means of Instruction. — Among the means of 
instruction presented at the institute may be mentioned, what 
has already been alluded to, the whole management of the farm, 
with its experimental fields, the implement manufactory, the 
workshops, the forests and hunting parks, the nurseries, both 
native and exotic trees, the botanic garden, the library and the 
different collections and apparatus designed especially for the 
purposes of instruction. 

The botanic garden was started in 1829, with an area of about 
ten acres. It was intended to serve the double purpose of 
instruction and ornament to the surroundings of the chateau. 
I spent a good deal of time in the various parts of this garden. 
It is laid out on a generous scale, with an agreeable, park-like 
aspect ; groups of trees, ornamental and useful shrubs, parterres 
of flowers and lawns well kept. A part of it is devoted to 
annuals, where an immense number of varieties of wheat and 
other grains are cultivated ; each plot labelled, so that the 
visitor may know, without a guide, what each contains. In 
another part are the perennials, especially those of economical 
value. A grass garden forms a part by itself, where the different 
species of grass are cultivated in little clumps, each labelled with 
its systematic and common name ; while an arboretum of consid-. 
erable extent is, at all times, accessible for students and others. 

The library contains 4,000 volumes on agriculture and forestry 
and their auxiliary sciences. 

The collections are very extensive and valuable, more so than 
at any other institute of the kind that I visited. They consist 
of large collections of soils, manures, models of implements, and 
implements in full size ; admirable collections of wools, kept in 
glass cases, among which are complete historical collections 
from the sheep kept on the farm for many years back, especially 
of the most celebrated bucks and ewes ; collections of woods, 
minerals, petrifactions, &c. ; collections of seeds of fruits, her- 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 29 

bariums, pathological and zoological collections, apparatus used 
in the lectures on physics, the chemical laboratory, &c. 

The course of instruction in the institute embraces a very 
wide range, and a full detail would lead too far. A general 
outline may be stated, as follows : — 

1. General field and plant culture. This includes a general 
introduction, the objects of cultivation and the connection of 
cattle breeding with farm operations ; also instruction upon 
climates, soils, manures, implements, working the soil, multipli- 
cation of plants, care of seeds, crops, preservation of farm pro- 
ducts, accompanied by demonstrations in the field, the collec- 
tions of models and machine shops. 

2. Special plant culture. 

3. Meadow cultivation. 

4. Wine, hop and tobacco culture. 

5. Fruit culture. 

6. Vegetable cultivation. 

7. Breeding of general farm stock — embracing domestic cattle 
and their necessity for man, science of feeding and nourishment, 
care, uses, multiplication, choice, &c. 

8. Horse breeding, including the structure and anatomy of 
the horse ; with the assistance of a large collection of fine 
illustrations of the different breeds, and excursions made to the 
various royal studs in the kingdom. 

9. Cattle breeding— with demonstrations in the stalls, collec- 
tions of models and cheese dairy. 

10. Sheep breeding, including instruction in regard to wools, 
demonstrations in the sheep stalls, in the wool and model col- 
lections, and in the wool market at Kirchheimer. 

11. Swine and poultry breeding, accompanied, also, by prac- 
tical demonstrations in the pig-sties and collections. 

12. Silk culture — including the care and cultivation of mul- 
berries, the proper buildings, the treatment of silk-worms, &c. 

13. Bee culture. 

14. Practical agricultural instruction — embracing, in general, 
the duties of steward, landed property in its political and legal 
relations, position, cHmate, soil, farm buildings, &c. ; capital, 
labor and, particularly, the organization and direction of a farm ; 
choice of objects, estimation of requirements of manure, statics, 
nourishment of plants, choice of stock, rotation, farm system, 



30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

division of fields, transition from one course of cropping to 
another, <fcc. 

15. Taxation of farm property. 

16. Farm book-keeping. 

17. Agricultural technology. This course embraces a year's 
instruction upon the manufacture of beet sugar, beer brewing 
and the distillery of brandy in the winter term, and the manu- 
facture of vinegar, starch, the grinding of meal, tile and brick 
making, and wine and cider making in the summer term, with 
the innumerable details connected with each. 

The auxiliary branches include — 

(1st.) Arithmetic and algebra. 

(2d.) Theoretical geometry. 

(3d.) Trigonometry. 

(4th.) Practical geometry, which includes surveying, land 
measuring and levelling. 

(5th.) Estimation of the value of forest lands, beginning 
with the cubic contents of timber, the growth of single trees, 
whole forests, &c. 

(6th.) Mechanics and physics. . 

(7th.) Chemistry, in the winter term, general, in the sum- 
mer, agricultural chemistry, with practice and experiments in 
the laboratory. The lectures on agricultural chemistry treat, 
among other things, upon the composition of feeding sub- 
stances, the theory of feeding, &c. 

(8th.) Introduction to geology, the object being to give the 
student a full knowledge of all those minerals alluded to in the 
lectures on special geognosy, and which are of more or less 
importance as elements in the soil, and in organic bodies. 

(9th.) Geognosy, science of minerals, composition, adhesion? 
hardness of rocks, their contents of water, air, warmth, &c. 
Structure of masses of rocks, groups, systems, &c. 

(10th.) Introduction to botany and special economic botany, 
in connection with which weekly excursions are made during 
the summer, in the neighborhood of Hohenheim, in addition to 
which are demonstrations in the botanic garden and the collec- 
tions. 

(11th.) Physiology, anatomy and pathology of plants — their 
anatomical composition ; elementary organs — the different forms 
of cells ; the compound organs, the structure of the root, the 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 31 

stem, the leaves ; microscopic demonstrations — life of plants 
in general, assimilation, secretion ; chemical composition of 
plants — the elements, organic and inorganic ; the external con- 
ditions of plant life — influence of heat, light and electricity on 
plants, &G.; internal conditions of life. A pathological collec- 
tion and a good microscope are constantly used in the demon- 
strations. 

(rith.) General zoology, with explanations by skeletons. 

(13th.) Special zoology, with constant use of the zoological 
collections, in classes, families, breeds, &g. 

(11th.) Veterinary science, including the structure of 
domestic animals, with practical demonstrations. 

(15th.) National economy. 

(16th.) Laws relating to forests. 

(17th.) Agricultural mechanics — ^building materials, foun- 
dations, structures, &q. 

(18th.) Drawing of plants. 

These courses are so arranged that the pupil can go over their 
whole range in two terms, or one year, if he has had sufficient 
preparation at the outset ; but generally it requires the regular 
course of two years of the institute. 

The course of instruction begins on the first of October, and 
the first, or winter term, continues till the tenth of March, 
when there are three weeks' vacation, after which follows the 
summer term till the first of September. An examination 
takes place at the end of each year before" the royal commis- 
sion, when prizes are distributed to such as have distinguished 
themselves by industry, good conduct and acquirements. 

To show how the day is occupied, the following Plan of 
Studies is posted about the rooms. 



82 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



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SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



33 



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34 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

The Cattle. — It was thought that no race of cattle, that did 
not unite the different good qualities in the highest degree, 
would be adapted to the wants of Hohenheim ; and no race 
prominent for one quality, as for instance, for milk, the yoke, 
or beef, would answer the necessity. After a fair trial of the 
Dutch, the English, the black and white Bernese, the Swytzer, 
the Montafoner, the Allgauers, the Hungarians, the Triesdorfer, 
the Ansbacher, the Haller and the Limbourger, it was found 
that the qualities most desired, were united in the greatest 
degree of perfection in the Simmenthalers. Since their first 
introduction, in 1835, they have constantly increased ; and now 
the whole herd, except one, of from 80 to 100 head, are either 
pure, or nearly pure bred Simmenthalers. The Allgauers are 
admitted to be better for milk ; but, taking color and all other 
characteristics into consideration, the Simmenthalers carried 
the day. No experiments are now made to test the comparative 
merits of different breeds, either at Hohenheim, or at any other 
agricultural school that I visited in Europe. 

These cattle are all uniform in color, of a yellowish or tawny 
brown, approaching to red. They have mostly been raised on 
the farm, from fourteen cows and two bulls, which were selected 
in the Canton of Berne, in Switzerland, in 1835 ; and a second 
purchase of sixteen cows and two bulls, in 1838 ; and a third, of 
seventeen cows in 1844. The horn is short, the skin yellow, 
soft and mellow to the touch, mostly good handlers ; the barrel 
large, the quarters well developed, back straight, chest full and 
well formed. The head is somewhat inclined to be coarse in 
many of them, as well as the dewlap ; while the shoulders and 
neck also of the bulls are too large and coarse. The males are 
inferior to the females in the form and structure of the fore- 
quarters, head, neck and shoulders. They weigh from 1,200 
to 1,350 pounds, some considerably exceeding that. Prof. Rau 
informed me that they would average about 1,300 ; but the 
whole stock is weighed every year, and the average weight 
depends a little upon the condition of the cows at the time of 
the weighing, the number in calf, the quality of their feed at 
the time, and other circumstances. In 1847, for instance, 78 
weighed 69,G07 pounds. In the spring of 1859, 104 head 
weighed 88,920 pounds, an increase of 19,213 pounds. The 
general average of all the weighings, between 1846 and 1862, 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 35 

gave 1,240 pounds ; but the weight has no doubt been increased 
by the good keeping at Hohenheim, and exceeds that of the 
animal on its native mountain pastures. The bulls often weigh 
as high as 1,800 to 2,000 pounds. 

All the cattle, except, of course, the working oxen, are kept 
in stall the year round. The stall is roomy, high, light and 
dry, — 263 feet long — with a roof of sloping boards. The stand- 
ing-platform is stone, cemented, with channels behind for 
carrying off the drainage. The cows stand in two rows, head 
to head, and between, through the whole length, there is an 
elevated passage-way, ten feet wide, for feeding, with troughs 
made of oak plank. No fodder racks are used. The stable is 
about forty feet wide. The windows are large, with iron frames, 
easily opened and shut. The doors are also arranged with slides, 
to secure ventilation. Just outside are sheds for cutting the 
green fodder, as it is brought up — an old man and a stout 
peasant girl were kept at work, in cutting vetches and clover, 
nearly all the time I was there. 

The feed is green; taken fresh from the field, from the begin- 
ning or middle of May till the end of October ; consisting of 
rye, lucerne, clover, trefoil, vetches, sugar millet, turnip leaves, 
spurry, &c., alternately. All the food, green and dry, is cut up, 
so as to prevent any loss. The feeding value of green food to 
hay, is as one to five. In winter the feeding consists of hay, 
clover hay, or other dry fodder ; beet-roots and straw ; malt 
combs are occasionally fed. Oil-cake and crushed grain are 
given now and then. The feeding of raw potatoes has become 
impracticable, on account of the rot. The winter fodder state- 
ment shows that 100 pounds of hay are equal, in nutritive value, 
to 275 pounds beets, carrots and artichokes ; to 200 pounds of 
straw, rape husks, potatoes ; to 160 pounds chaff; to. 125 pounds 
beer malt ; to 60 pounds oats ; to 50 pounds crushed grain and 
oil-cake. 

The following table will serve to show the number of pounds 
of food of various kinds, and its equivalent in hay, which each 
animal is accustomed to receive per day : 



36 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



;tocb:. 



Length of Time. 



P OtJKDS. 



•3 W 
> 



^2 



44 cows, 
2 bulls, . 
39 cows, 2 bulls, 
37 heifers, 
34 heifers, 
34 heifers, 
10 calves,* . 
8 calves,* 



1st to 17th Nov., . 
18th Nov. to 1st Dec, 
2d Dec. to 4th May, . 
1st to 10th Nov., 
11th to 17th Nov., 
18th Nov. to 1st May, 
1st to 10th Nov., . 
11th Nov. to 27th July, 



15 



=35.22 
=36.93 
=36.68 
=16.00 
=17.45 
=18.22 
=18.00 
=18.00 



* Three pounds Crushed Grain. 

From this it will be seen that for the older stock about 36 
lbs. of hay or its equivalent are required per day. It has been 
found that a sixtieth or 1| per cent, of live weight will support 
the animal without loss, but also without gain, and to provide 
for secretions, as milk in cows, wool on sheep, it is necessary to 
double that ration, making it a thirtieth of the live weight or 
3|- per cent. This is greater than would be required if the 
cattle had been raised and kept up in condition from birth, as 
is the case in England, which is no doubt the most economical 
method. The roots are cut. The oil-cake was formerly softened 
with water before feeding out, but now, like the crushed grain, 
fed out dry with a slight mixture of salt, of which 12 lbs. a year 
on an average, are used per head. The feeding takes place 
twice a day, morning and evening. Each meal is divided into 
several small parts, and a wqw one given only when the last is 
eaten up. The stock is watered at a fountain outside, between 
the regular meals. The fountain is a little way off from the 
stable, so that they get some exercise in going and coming. The 
young stock is turned daily into a roomy yard close by the 
stalls. All the stock is curried every day, and kept clean and 
neat. 

It has been found by careful observation that an animal 
attains its greatest weight of body and greatest yield of milk at 
8 years ; i. e., after the sixth calf. A cow just before calving 
weighs i50 lbs. more, on an average, than after calving, and 
about 200 lbs. more than when dry. The calves usually weigh 
80 lbs. and 88 lbs. according to sex. The weight of a calf 
when dropped is from -^^ to ^""g of the average weight of the 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



37 



cow. The use of males for breeding is commenced at a year 
and a half old, but they are not much used till two. In 100 
calves 94|- per cent, are living and 5^ per cent. dead. Among 
100 calves, 55^^ per cent, are males, and M^q per cent, 
females. In 100 parturitions, 4^^^ per cent, are twins. 
A form of cattle register is kept as follows : — 











Copulation. 


Weight. 




Name and 


Sire. 


Dam. 


Day of 






















Bbebd. 






Birth. 


Day. 


Bull. 


Day. 


Pounds. 




The for 


m of f 


)edigre 


e regi 


ster is 


as follows :- 


- 




° S 




Copula- 


Kemakks on the 


Weight of 


Yield op 






Breed. 
















tion. 


Calf. 


Cows. 


Milk. 


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An account is kept so that the weight of milk of each cow 
and each month is seen at a glance, the yield of each noted and 
the yearly yield noted. The average annual yield per cow is 
4,816 pounds. It occurs as follows : — 



After the 1st calf. 


3,616 


lbs. 


After the 4th calf. 


4,852 lbs. 


2d " 


4,492 


a 


" 5th " 


5,308 " 


" 3d " 


5,048 


i( 


" 6th " 


5,352 " 



After that the yield continues the same for some time, or falls 
off. It does not increase. The largest yield of any one cow 
bred at Hohenheim was from a cow which I saw when there. 
Her weight was about 1,200 pounds. She gave in one year 
nine thousand six hundred and seventy pounds, in the year 
after her fifth calf, at the age of eight. The general average 
yield of milk is four times the live weight of the cow each year. 



38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The milking takes place twice a day at the time of the morning 
and evening feeding. The average time of going dry is three 
months ; the number of milk days, 275. The milk is sold to a 
dairyman and cheese-maker. 

Young stock, not wanted on the farm, is sold at public auction 
twice a year, in May and October. The average price for bulls 
from a year to a year and a half old, is S58.47. The highest 
price for any one animal was $172.20. 

The raising of calves is artificial from birth. They are taken 
from the dam and fed from the pail. They do exceedingly 
well ; the cow is less disquieted and the trouble is less than if 
the calves suckle the cow. The latter is allowed some days 
with young cows after the first calf till they get used to being 
milked. The amount of food given is : — 

1st week, daily, 12 pounds of milk, - pounds of oatmeal, - pounds of fine hay. 



2d " 




16 




- 


3d " 




20 




- 


4th " 




22 




- 


5th to 7th 




22 




i 


8th week. 




24 




1. 


9th " 




20 




i 


10th " 




16 




2 


11th " 




12 




2 


12th " 




8 




2 


13th " 




4 




3 



1 " . 

u '3 « 

" 6 " - 

" 10 " 

" 10 " 

In the ninth week the milk is first mixed with water and a 
little fine oatmeal. The meal is after that mixed with the 
dry fodder. After three months the milk is withheld, and then 
the young animals receive daily, till two and a half years old, 
from twenty to twenty-two pounds of hay, or its equivalent. 
But the calves never after receive, even in summer, any but dry 
food, till they are nine months old. The average feeding is so 
divided that the younger portion receive less, the older more, 
till two and a half years, when they begin to receive the regular 
rations of the older cattle, including the grain fodder as indi- 
cated above. The growth with this treatment is so remarkable 
that it is only a little surpassed by the rapidly maturing 
Shorthorns. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 39 

The average weiglit of heifer calves at 3 months is 233 lbs. Bulls, 353 lbs. 
" " " 6 " 357 " " 472 " 

" " " 1 year 640 " " 750 " 

" " " 2 «. " 1,180 " " 1,300 " 

The daily increase of a heifer calf is 1.5 lbs. Of a bull calf, 1.8 lbs. 

" " " in the 2d year is 1.4. Of a bull, 1.5 lbs. 

Few animals are fattened except working oxen, and now and 
then a cow that goes diy. At the commencement of winter, 
when the work is over, about twelve oxen are usually fed for 
beef. The process never exceeds four months. The oxen 
receive daily, 10 lbs. of hay, 6 lbs. of straw, 25 lbs. of beets, 45 
lbs. of beer-malt, 4 lbs. of oil-cake ; in all 66 lbs. of hay or its 
equivalent, and 6 lbs. of straw for litter, a day. The average 
time of feeding for the last four years was one hundred and 
twenty-three and a half days. The increase per head in this 
time was three hundred and two and three-quarters pounds, or 
two and one-half pounds a day on an average, live weight. For 
each one hundred pounds of hay, or its equivalent, fed out, the 
animal took on 3.64 pounds live weight. 

From what has been said it will be seen that all the feed of 
stock, the dry and green forage, straw, <fec., is cut, mixed or 
macerated. This is the case, with very few exceptions, all over 
Germany. 

The Sheep.— Hohenheim undertook to improve the sheep of 
the country by breeding and furnishing suitable bucks. The 
object was a breed tolerably rich in wool and size of body, 
hardihood and capacity for supporting themselves on mountain 
pastures in summer, and dry pastures and the sheepfolds in 
winter. These qualities it was difficult to find in any known 
breed, and to get one was the problem to be solved. Very fine 
woolled sheep, and sheep eminently adapted to mutton, were 
the exceptions, and did not sufficiently unite all these qualities. 
The characteristic sheep of the country is a wool-mutton sheep, 
got from a cross of the Merino with the German sheep with a 
live weight of 90 to 100 lbs, and a clip of 3 lbs. of No. 2 to No. 
4 wool, which had the character partly of a cloth and partly of 
a combing wool. 

The fat bucks of this so-called grade sheep, which exhibited 
different degrees of improvement, yet having attained such 
similarity and fixedness of type as to be designated abroad as 



40 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

the Wiirtemberg race, have created considerable demand in 
trade, especially for France. The demand for mutton sheep, 
in the last few years, and the keeping of sheep for their manure, 
has greatly increased, wHile the demand for extremely fine 
cloth wool and carding wools has fallen off, partly on accovint 
of fashion and of the wool manufactures, partly on account of 
a want of docility and endurance of folding of such sheep. The 
Electoral flocks have become less and less, their places being 
supplied by coarser and heavier fleeced animals. The result of 
this change has been the increased importance of mutton pro- 
ducing sheep, and the production of a cross breed in Hohenheim 
with the older Merino basis, in the years 1854 and 1855, and 
since. 45 native ewes in lamb by a fine buck were bought and 
24 English Merino ewes put with them, which came from a cross 
of an English buck with long wool and large Merino ewes in 
1830. This new breed has now grown up to 200 ewes. The 
principal bucks used besides that named, were one from Ram- 
bouillet, and a third of Rambouillet and English cross-breed. 

Besides this English Merino breed, which was kept up from 
1822 to 1850, is the so-called Justinger breed. The Duke of 
Wiirtemberg effected a purchase in Segovia (Spain) and in the 
south of France, in 1786, which was bred as the State model 
flock on the estate at Justinger. In 1822, ten hundred and 
eighteen of them were transferred to Hohenheim. In 1829 the 
institute lost the Justinger pastures, and had to stall-feed the 
flock in summer. The Justingers had a middling fine wool fit 
for cloths, and were large and sheared heavy fleeces. They 
improved the flocks of the country. The 45 ewes above- 
mentioned had come from them. But not only the new breed, 
but the old Hohenheim Merino flocks contained Justinger 
blood. In transferring the State breeding flocks to Hohen- 
heim, a flock of the purest Electorals from the Saxon folds, 
consisting of 83 ewes and 7 bucks, was kept till 1826. They 
formed the fine Hohenheim Electoral, which was improved by 
two bucks and four ewes from Upper Silesia in 1846, and had 
grown up in 1850 to 130 breeding ewes. 

The Electoral bucks have been used to improve the Justinger 
ewes since 1824, and thence are called the Justinger-Electorals. 
As a result of the cross, the wool became so fine that in 1850 
the Justingers and Electorals could be put together. The 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



41 



number of Electoral ewes was thereby increased to 224 head 
in 1851, while on account of the heavy sale of wool they were 
reduced to 50 head in 1862. 

Another part of the Justinger breed, selected from rich and 
long-woolled animals, was used for the formation of a fine comb- 
wool breed and was bred on pure by itself from 1830 to 1841. 
A comb-wool buck from the flock of Count Schwerin, with long, 
slender, glossy wool, was bought in 1843 — whence the present 
comb-wool flock of 200 ewes proceeded. They intend to reduce 
this flock also,'»on account of the slow sale of the wool. 

A third part of the Justingers, from long-woolled animals, 
was crossed with the long-woolled and mutton English Leicester 
bucks. From that cross came what they call the English 
Merinos, in 1830. In the beginning they used pure English 
bucks, and in 1842, pure Leicesters. The yield of wool not 
being satisfactory, they put the ewes in 1847 and 1848 to comb- 
wool bucks. In 1854, this flock, which never much exceeded 
20 ewes, distinguished by its broad build, was mixed with the 
newly-founded cross-breed, as already mentioned. The prin- 
ciples of breeding adopted in the management of this flock had 
in view the weight of fleece, and weight of body first, with the 
Electorals fine wool, with the comb-wool breed quantity with 
softness or pliancy, and strength and gloss. All three flocks 
are folded, and were put together on the 1st of August, 1862. 







o 




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1. Electorals, .... 


68 


12 


4 


11 


1 


96 


2. Coaib Wools, 


294 


63 


19 


73 


60 


509 


3. Grades, . . 


240 


64 


42 


70 


28 


444 


Totals, . . . . 


602 


139 


65 


154 


89 


1,049 



The lambs are all numbered by notches and holes in the ears, 
a few days after they are dropped. A register is kept. Males 
are used for breeding at a year and a half old, females, at two 
and a half. A buck usually serves not over 50 and is never 
allowed over 75 ewes. 
6 



42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

"Winter lambing was continued from 1822 to 1848. Summer 
lambing was tried in 1838 with a part of the flock, in order to 
get a greater yield of wool, the lambs coming in June and July. 
Now, since 1848, they all come in May and the first half of 
June. They get, on an average, 69 lambs to 100 ewes. One 
hundred Saxonies had 63, one hundred comb-wools had 75, one 
hundred Justingers had 67, one hundred English Merinos had 
72, one hundred Grades had 101 lambs. In summer lambing 
it was found that buck lambs predominated, while in winter and 
spring lambing the ewe lambs were more numeirous. A pair of 
twin lambs occurs on an average with Grade sheep, in every 
nine births ; with English Merinos one in every 24, with comb- 
wool sheep. one in every 26, Justingers one in every 49, Elec- 
torals one in every 60. The average of all is twin lambs in 31 
births. 

It would appear from this that the farther we go from the 
highest type of fine wool the more prolific the sheep become. 
The Holstein sheep, at the international fair, a long-woolled 
breed from the marshes, had, in some cases, five lambs; in 
others, four ; in others, three ; eighteen lambs were dropped 
and nourished by five dams. 

The twins are most frequently of different sexes, but occa- 
sionally of the same, and when of the same, two males quite as 
often as two females. As the lambing time approaches, the 
ewes are separated from the rest of the flock by hurdles, and 
kept apart some days after. At four weeks old the lambs are 
separated part of the time from the ewes, some hours at first, 
then gradually for a longer time, until they are allowed together 
only at mid-day and at night. Castration and cutting the 
tails take place from three to four weeks of age. At four 
months old they are weaned entirely and put upon separate 
pastures. The sheds are so arranged that the different sexes 
and classes by age can be kept apart. The sheds are roomy, 
dry, and quite healthy. 

The feed in summer is partly on natural pastures, that is, 
those where the natural grasses grow, and partly on artificial 
ones, that is, on clover stubble. The pasturage lasts from the 
fifteenth of April to the fifteenth of November, frequently to the 
middle of December, or from seven to eight months. The 
sheep are driven out in the morning as soon as the dew is dried 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 43 

off. At mid-day they are driven under cover some hours ; 
if the weather is hot or bad they lie in the sheds as they do by 
night, after the afternoon and evening pasturing. The flocks 
feeding in the neighborhood of the buildings are driven into 
the stalls ; those on more distant pastures into sheep-houses. 

The winter feeding lasts from the twentieth of November, on 
an average, to the fifteenth of April. It consists of hay and 
straw, roots and shorts. Bucks receive in addition some oats 
when put to service. The orts of the fodder straw are used for 
bedding. The distribution of the winter feed is as follows : — 

217 Electoral ewes and comb-wool sheep receive daily, from 
the 2d of December to the 13th of April— 133 days — 1^ pounds 
of hay, I pound of straw, 1| pounds of roots, |- pound of coarse 
ground grain. In all 2.82 pounds of hay or its equivalent. 
70 yearling ewes get the same feeding from December 2d to 
April 6th, or 126 days. 168 lambs of the same breed get from 
December 2d to April 6th, 1| pounds of hay, 1 pound of straw, 
^ pound of coarse ground grain, equal to 2^ pounds of hay. 
16 bucks of these breeds get in the same time 2i pounds of hay, 
I pound of straw, 1^ pounds of roots, ^ pound coarse crushed 
grain, or 4.32 pounds of hay or its equivalent. 140 cross-bred 
ewes, from tlie 2d December to the loth April, gel 2 pounds 
hay, I pound ^straw, 1^ pounds roots, 1| pounds grain, or 3.32 
pounds hay or its equivalent. 62 yearling ewes, from 2d 
December to 6th April, get 2^ pounds hay, | pound straw, 1^ 
pounds roots, | pound grain, equal to 3.82 pounds of hay. 113 
cross-bred lambs, in the same time, get each 2 pounds hay, 1 
pound straw, | pound grain, equal to 3 pounds hay. 23 bucks, 
in the same time, get each 3 pounds hay, | pound straw, 1| 
pounds roots, ^ pound grain, equal to 4.82 pounds hay. 

The arrangement is as follows : In the morning the sheep 
get hay, then water is let into round troughs in the stall. At 
10 o'clock, cut roots : at noon, hay, then drink again. In the 
course of the afternoon, cut roots, and at evening, straw. 
Once a week they get salt at evening, after the feeding, half an 
ounce a head. 

The health of the flocks is remarkable, diseases very rarely 
attacking them. The loss is frequently no more than a quarter 
of one per cent, a year. The sheep are washed early in Juno. 
The shearing is done by women on contract at four kreutzers 



44 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

(or a trifle less than six cents,) apiece. The fleece of each sheep 
is accurately weighed, and the weight entered in the register. 
Then the fleeces are bound up singly, those of the different 
breeds being kept apart. On an average of eiglit years, the 
Electorals shear 2 lbs, 3J- oz. The comb-wools shear 2 lbs. 10^ 
oz. The grades, 3 lbs. 3| oz. 

The live weight of bucks of the Electoral breed is 120 lbs. ; 
of ewes, 76 lbs. Of comb-wool bucks, 135 lbs. ; ewes, 84 lbs. 
Of grades, 160 lbs. ; ewes, 91 lbs. 

The oily gum in the fleeces of the three breeds is easily solu- 
ble, and the washing makes the wool beautifully white. Dust, 
sand and dirt cling to the fleeces of these sheep and the washing, 
therefore, is followed by a considerable loss of weight. An 
experiment made to ascertain the average loss resulted as 
follows : — 

The Electoral sheep lost, on an average, 4 lbs. or 63 per cent, 
in washing on the sheep, and at the manufactory, 12.3 per 
cent., making in all 75.3 per cent., and leaving 24.7 per cent, 
of thoroughly cleansed wool. The comb-wool sheep lost 2 lbs. 
13 oz., or 50 per cent, on the fleece, and at the manufactory, 
12.7 per cent. In all 62.7 per cent., leaving 37.3 per cent, of 
clean wool. Tlie grades lost 5 lbs. 14 oz., or 66 per cent, from 
washing on the fleece, and 9.5 at the mill. In all 75.5 per cent, 
leaving 24| per cent, of pure wool. 

The Experimental Field was designed, not only as a means of 
instruction for the students, but also as a means of investigation 
on the part of the professors. For this purpose the plots appro- 
priated to each experiment, consist of nearly a quarter of an 
acre each ; a size sufficient to give to each a fair and full trial 
in management, manuring, cost of culture, results, &c. The 
fact that there are ninety-six of these plots, indicates that this 
part of the enterprise receives its due share of attention. It 
also offers the means of raising a great variety of seeds, which 
supply the wants of the farm and form an important item in the 
receipts of the institute ; while it secures to the farmers of the 
country a certain source, from which they can obtain pure seed. 
But the experiments on the farm are not wliolly confined to this 
field. Among those that have been tried, the following may be 
mentioned : — 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 45 

1. Upon the transmission of caries in grain, and the influence 
of washing, soaking, fermentation of the seed on the stock, as 
well as on the age and change of seed. 

2. Observations on the sensitiveness of growing plants to frost. 

3. On the effect of large, middling-sized and small seed pota- 
toes. 

4. On plucking off the blossoms of potatoes. 

5. On the exhaustion of land by rape culture. 

6. On the exhaustion of wheat in comparison with green 
plants and fallow. 

7. On the culture, year after year, of beets on the same land, 
by constantly fresh manuring. 

8. On the continued culture of artichokes, on the same land, 
with manuring every three years. 

9. On the effect of mowing, or not mowing, the late clover 
stubble in autumn. 

10. On the depasturing of winter barley. 

11. On the manuring of meadows. 

12. On manuring with Peruvian, Baker's Island and fish 
guanos; rape meal, bone meal, super-phosphate, Chili saltpetre, 
salt, gypsum, gas lime, soda, peat ashes, Liebig's patent manure, 
artificial manures. 

13. On the effect of fresh and rotted manure, the mixture of 
various crops, and many others. 

This field was very instructive and interesting. The crops 
upon it, when I was there, were in full growth, including a 
large number of varieties of wheat. 

Management of Manuee. — There are two great manure pits, 
one to receive the contributions from the stalls for cows and 
young stock, and the other those from the horses, oxen and 
fatting cattle. The liquid manure is received into cisterns, 
whence it can be pumped up and thrown upon the manure heap, 
or run down into the basins in the botanic garden. 

The manure is carried from the stalls on wheel-barrows and 
added to the heap ; which is carted off usually every week, so 
as not to ferment and lose its value. When this is impossible, 
owing to bad weather, or the press of other and more important 
work for the teams, — as during harvesting — the manure heap 
is sprinkled over, from time to time, with plaster of Paris. It 
never remains so long as four weeks in the bulk, except during 



46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

the harvest and fall seeding, and the rule is to cart it off regu- 
larly every week. 

The manure, as it is carried out, is immediately spread, that 
it may not rot in small heaps, or be washed and unevenly distrib- 
uted. If it comes directly upon the stubble field, it is ploughed 
under with the stubble ; if upon ground already ploughed, it 
remains lying spread out upon the surface, till the proper time 
for ploughing comes. If the land is frozen, the same is done ; 
and it lies till the land is ready for the plough. The same 
course is pursued even when the ground is covered with snow ; 
the manure is spread upon the snow, so that it immediately 
freezes and does not rot without a covering. The whole man- 
agement is designed to have the manure, when it is possible, 
rot in the soil, and not in heaps upon the surface. Fermentation 
of manure above the surface is prevented, as far as it can be, 
so that the gaseous products may be developed in the soil and 
held fast by it. 

In the sheep pens the manure remains lying a longer time. 
Under the treading of the animals in the close space, less goes 
to waste than in open heaps, yet here and there where there is 
danger of this, gypsum is spread over the manure, and when- 
ever a sufficient store is collected, this also is carted out. 

In summer, and commencing about the 20th of April, a part 
of the sheep are penfolded by means of movable fences, and in 
rains and great heats, they are driven under sheds or into 
stalls, where they are furnished with litter. The finer ewes 
with their lambs are folded at night in the stall till weaning 
time, and after the rowan harvest, the ewes are let upon the 
inlying meadows, but the lambs are not turned upon them till 
the following year. The pen is the best mode of managing and 
applying this manure, because nothing is lost, and the urine of 
the animal, which in the stall mostly escapes as ammonia, is 
saved. They attain also with manuring by means of the pen- 
fold more than three times as much as by the stall dung which 
is produced by the same number of animals in the same time. 

The preparation of compost is not so extensively carried on 
now as formerly, because the carting to and fro costs too much. 
The compost heap is very conveniently placed near the build- 
ings. It is in a circular basin hollowed out four to five feet 
deep, to which on two opposite sides there is an entrance and 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 47 

exit, with edges four or five feet high, over which all the 
material is thrown, in layers upon the bed of the circular heap. 
In the circle there is a passage-way left, where the carts are 
loaded in carrying away the compost. The whole is surrounded 
by trees, and on the side of the entrance there is a stone ash 
house. To this compost is added all the rubbish from the 
workshops, the barns, and of special crops, as the stalks of seed 
roots, turnips, beets, &c., hop vines, street sweepings, the con- 
tents of privies, &c., such organic matters, especially, as decay 
too slowly to have much value applied directly to the field, or 
which decay too quickly and lose too much before they are 
wanted, as the night soil, or substances containing the seeds of 
weeds. Stable manure, which is brought directly upon the 
fields and mowing lands, is never added to this compost heap. 
To these materials only so much loam is added as is necessary 
to hold the gaseous products of their decay, that is, the com- 
post must never smell, and it will not, if it is all covered over 
with earth. More earth than is necessary to effect this object 
is of no use, and only makes a useless labor of hauling to and 
from the heap, and loading and unloading twice over. Urine 
is an exception, as it is sometimes brought and thrown upon 
the compost, when it becomes necessary to accelerate the 
decomposition of the materials. The heap is not forked over, 
as this is too expensive, and as it lays in horizontal layers of 
organic materials and earth, they are cut down perpendicularly 
as they are carted off, so that the mass becomes thoroughly 
mixed and uniform. 

Both the cisterns for liquid manure above alluded to are 
from time to time let off into the basin in the botanic garden, 
which lies at some distance off on a lower level, and the liquid 
is thus distributed by means of water, over the grounds, which 
saves all expense of cartage. Some of the urine is carried by 
means of the barrel on wheels into the vegetable garden and 
the experimental field, for certain plants, as cabbage, tobacco, 
&c., and rarely upon the compost heap. 

The ashes from the many stoves of the institute, amounting 
yearly from 150 to 200 bushels, are spread upon the meadows 
and the poorer spots of lucerne. 

Gypsum is not much used, except to strew over the manure, 
with which it reaches the fields, since in a series of years but 



48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

little influence has been traced, on clover and lucerne, though 
previous to 1860 it had always been more or less used, and 
where used it neither appears in the soil nor was it observed in 
the greater yield of crops. 

Lime ashes from the brick-kiln, all that can be had, are 
applied to worn-out soils with the best results, especially in 
connection with the manuring for rape seed. But two to three 
hundred bushels can be had. 

The mud or settlings, in the mill pond-, is very rich, and is 
taken out every six or seven years, amounting to 250 cart- 
loads. The yard where the young stock is allowed to run, at 
certain times, is supplied with rape-stalks, old straw and some 
similar substances, and the rakings from it are put upon the 
compost heap, and with that upon the fields. 

No manures are bought for the farm, but they sometimes 
spend from 60 to 70 florins, or 25 to 30 dollars, a year for horn- 
shavings and wool-waste from the manufactories, for the trees 
in the nurseries. 

I might give much more extended details of the foregoing 
and many other branches of this institute, and its management 
of the great estate on which it is located, but what has been 
said will serve to show with what degree of system and care 
the whole establishment is carried on, and how useful such 
experiments and details here might be made to the farming 
community. Each school, properly conducted, would become 
in fact a great experimental station, the results of which would 
serve, in a measure, to educate the whole community, as well as 
the students who might have the more direct advantages of it. 

The number of students in the higher institute at the time I 
was there was 150. The ancient riding-schools, with ceilings 
adorned by splendid fresco paintings by some of the first artists 
of the last century, are now used as barns for the storage of 
grain. 

The collection of implements at this school is, I think, the 
most extensive and instructive of any I saw in Europe. The 
collection of models is also very large and well arranged. The 
students in the lower school, or school of practical farming, 
have a lecture from 5 to 6 in the morning, then work from 
7 to 11^, and from 1 to Q^ or 7. They have another lecture or 
study from 8 to 9 o'clock. The time devoted to study and 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 49 

instruction is increased in winter and during rainy days. They 
are the sons of peasants well off in the world, having enough 
to rent or buy a farm. They enter for three years and are not 
admitted for a less term. 

The sheep are regarded as about the most profitable branch 
of the farm. 

This institution is practically self-supporting. It receives 
ten thousand florins a year from the government. That is 
equivalent to a little over |4,000, but I was told that with a 
hundred students it could pay its way, 

WEIHENSTEPHAN. 

The Agricultural Institute of Weihenstephan holds the first 
rank in Bavaria. It was modelled, apparently, after that at 
Hohenheim. It is situated at the little old town of Reising, 
some twenty miles from Munich, on what was originally, I 
believe, a part of the public domain of Schleissheim, the royal 
buildings of which domain lie within six or seven miles of 
Munich, and where there is still a school of practical farming 
similar to the Ackerbauschule , or peasant school, at Hohen- 
heim. 

The location of the school and farm of Weihenstephan is 
very fine. The immense buildings stand on a beautiful hill, 
overlooking a wide extent of country, and within fifteen or 
twenty minutes' walk from the railway station. I arrived there 
from Ratisbon on a bright summer morning, introduced myself 
to the first man I met, told him my object and learned at what 
hours the various lectures took place, attended two or three of 
them and became acquainted with the professors, visited and 
examined the collections, the stables, the brewery, the farm and 
experimental field, the sheep, &c. 

The estate lying in connection with this institute comprises, 
I believe, about 650 acres, of which there are usually about 80 
in wheat, over 40 in rape and root crops, about 35 in oats, 12 
to 15 in potatoes, 15 to 20 in rye, 18 to 20 in barley, 8 to 10 in 
beans, 5 in hops, about 130 in fodder crops, such as lucerne, 
clover, vetches, &c., while about 150 are in mowing fields and 
so on. The land is of excellent quality. 

The stock consists of 12 horses, 22 pairs of oxen, 59 milch 
cows, 7 young cattle, 30 swine, and 570 sheep. The cows are 

7 



50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

mostly of the Allgauer and Miirztbaler breeds, which are con- 
sidered best for milk after the Dutch. The cross with the 
Allgauer and Swiss, they say, makes fine working oxen. 

The buildings form a series of parallelograms, enclosing a 
great grassy court, around which are arranged the various 
departments, as the chemical laboratory, the rooms for study, 
&c. Around a second court are the cattle barns, the dairy and 
stables, the granary, the brewery, the plough manufactory, &c. 
There are, also, various other establishments, a distillery, a 
flour mill, &g. 

The number of students is about seventy. The course of 
instruction does not materially differ from that at Hohenheim. 

During the summer term, for instance, there were lectures 
by the Director, on soils, their origin, the different kinds of soil, 
weathering, irrigation, drainage, division and natural classifi- 
cation ; The comparative value of soils for the production of 
plants ; Circumstances which modify this value ; The soil dif- 
fers according to the coarseness of its particles and its tenac- 
ity ; Sand, loam, clay, marl and humus ; Subdivisions of soils ; 
Taxation of mowing lands, pastures, gardens, vineyards, swale 
lands, fisheries, &c. ; Double-entry book-keeping as a check 
upon farming operations. 

Dr. Riederer lectured upon the following topics : — 

1. Introduction to agricultural practice, idea and object in 
general and the systems of Thaer, Thiinen and Liebig. 

2. The positive and negative means of a good farm manage- 
ment, as the judicious division of land, proper number of labor- 
ers, education of the farmer, necessary capital, &c. 

3. Advantages and disadvantages of large and small estates. 
Influence of a judicious regulation of the corn trade, at home 
and abroad, on the profits of farming, &c. 

4. The most important directions in regard to keeping ani- 
mals and the proper estimation of their products. 

Text-books are used in connection with the lectures. 
Professor Knobloch lectured three hours a week upon — 
1. Agricultural Chemistry. — Chemistry of fermentation, de- 
composition, formation of humus. The chemical contents of 
manure, excrements of birds, solid and liquid excrements of man 
and animals, strawy materials, disinfection. The chemical princi- 
ples of the preparation of composts. Bone manuring, phospho- 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 51 

rites, and koprolites, gypsum, wood and peat ashes. Manuring 
with oil-cakes, ammonia, and nitric acid salts. Fish guano. 
The formation of soil through the culture of agricultural plants. 
The chemical principles of fallowing and rotation. Drainage. 
Chemical analysis of soils and kinds of manure, the ashes of 
plants, of spring and running water, and of different agricul- 
tural products. On Liebig ; Chemistry in its application to 
agriculture and physiology, &c. 

In connection with these lectures, the chemical laboratory- 
was open daily during the term, and the students worked indus- 
triously in it, in making analyses of soils, manures and ashes, 
milk, potatoes, feeding materials and cereals, sulphuric acid 
and phosphoric acid determinations, &c. 

2. Agricultural Technology. — Four hours weekly. Fermen- 
tative processes of the beer brewery, the brandy distillery and 
vinegar manufactory in its whole range. Making of butter 
and cheese, making of starch, and the application of the latter 
to the production of sago. Lime and brick burning. Turf 
cutting. 

Technological Practice, four half-days a week in the winter 
term, and one half-day in the summer term. Manufacture of 
Bavarian normal and strong beer, potato, grain and maize 
brandy, vinegar, starch, &c. Demonstrations in the brandy 
distillery, the cheese dairy, the brick-yard, at the lime-kiln, and 
on the turf or peat meadows. Investigation of various raw 
materials and fabrics. Agricultural technological mechanics. 
Excursions to farming estates in the neighborhood. 

Professor May gave lectures in the winter term, five hours 
weekly, upon — 

1. The anatomy of the horse, the sheep and the swine, with 
demonstrations by skeletons and preparations. 

2. Physiology of domestic animals, in connection with the 
feeding proper for them. 

3. The races of the larger farm animals. Study of the dif- 
ferent races, breeds and families of improved domestic animals, 
their form, characteristics and useful qualities. 

4. General principles of the production of animals. Meth- 
ods and principles of breeding. Green, dry, root, bulb and corn 
fodder. Wastes of the farm. Loss and injury from particular 
feeding materials. Comparative composition of different mate 



52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

rials, and their nutritive value. Preservation, economy and 
production of fodder. 

Summer Term, four hours a week. 

1. Swine-breeding. Choice of animals. Pregnancy and care 
of the litter. Parturition. Treatment of the dam and pigs. 
Close confinement. Keeping at pasture. Fattening. 

2. Horse-breeding. Study of the subject from an agricul- 
tural and a national economical point of view. Choice of 
draught horses. Pairing. Treatment of the mare in foal. 
Handling of colts during the first, second, third and fourth 
years. Checks in the development. 

3. Knowledge of wool. Its normal and abnormal conditions. 

4. Importance of a knowledge of veterinary science in the 
treatment of domestic animals. 

Second Course. Winter Term, four hours a iveek. 

1. On wool, (continuation.) Wool staple. The wool fleece. 
Evenness of wool. Cloth and comb-wools. Working of Wool. 

2. Sheep-breeding. Choice of animals. Numbering and 
classification of sheep. Treatment of ewes in lamb. Time of 
lambing. Management of the young. Pasturing sheep. Wash- 
ing and shearing. Sorting of wool. Treatment and sale of 
wool. Fattening. Valuation of the fodder used in sheep 
husbandry. 

3. Cattle-breeding. Choice and selection of animals for 
breeding. Deviations from the normal presentation. Suckling 
and artificial raising of calves. General management in all cases. 

4. External diseases of the larger useful farm animals. 

5. Shoeing. Treatment of the ordinary breaks and diseases 
of the hoof. 

Summer Term — Five Hours a Week. 

1. Cattle breeding (continued.) Stall and pasture treatment. 
Use of cattle — milk, fattening and draught. Valuation of 
fodder to be used. 

2. Knowledge of the exterior of the horse. 

3. Knowledge of the exterior of cattle. 

4. Internal diseases of domestic animals. Contagious diseases 
and their origin. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 53 

Practical exercises of judging correctly of animals, on the 
part of the students, also of wool ; the true modes of breeding 
and the diseases of stock are constantly enforced. 

Prof. Lidl lectures, in the winter term, on — 

1. Cursory view of the geognostical relations of Bavaria. 

2. Agronomy. Mould and subsoil, humus, sand, clay, lime, 
gravel and alluvial soils. Local aspects and their influence on 
vegetation. 

3. Agriculture. Cultivation — working of the soil by culti- 
vation, by different implements. Improvement of soils. 

4. Anatomy and physiology of plants. Cells and vessels of 
plants. Difference in them. Contents of cells. Plant-cells in 
their various relations. Intercellular tissue. Nourishment of 
plants. Motion of the sap. Production by seeds and spores. 
Diseases of vegetation. 

5. Morphology. Root, stem and leaf organs, flowers, fruits 

.and seeds. 

Sumfner Term. 

1. Special plant culture — grain fodder and root-plants. 

2. Economical botany. The most important weeds and 
poisonous plants. 

Second Course — Winter Term. 

1. Fruit culture. 

2. Cultivation of special plants, root, commercial and coloring 

plants. 

Summer Term. 

1. Culture of special plants, grains, pulse and oil fruits. 
Fodder plants and tubers. 

2. Wine growing. 

3. Continuation of lectures on botany. 

Two botanical excursions are made each week in connection 
with this course. 

Prof. Dohlemann lectures, in the winter term, on — 

1. Applied mathematics. Recapitulation of the most neces- 
sary principles of algebra, geometry and stereometry ; calcu- 
lation, division and alteration of surfaces ; calculation of the 
cubic contents of different bodies. 

2. General architecture. Earth and foundation work. Con- 
struction of ore pits. Restoration of hewn stone and brick-wall 
work. Stone binding for pillars. Chimney flues, &c. 



54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

3. Practices in drawing. Drawing of situations. Copying 
and sketching of simple agricultural buildings and parts of 
buildings. Drawing of agricultural implements and machines. 

Summer Term. 

4. Continuation of general architecture. Construction of 
different kinds of vaults ; ornamental works ; carpenter's work ; 
joiner's and locksmith's work. 

5. Surveying, with exercises in the field. Explanation of 
the most useful instruments for length and angle measuring. 
Solution of different problems of practical geometry, on the field 
and in practice. 

Second Course — Winter Term. 

1. Agricultural Architecture. — Laying out and construction 
of houses and stables. Buildings for the preservation of agri- 
cultural crops, &c. 

2. Meadow Management, with practical exercises. — Theory 
and use of different levelling instruments. Water measuring. 
Improvements of fields in general. Drainage. Irrigation. 
Practice in levelling and water measuring. 

Prof. Meister lectured, in the winter term, three hours a 
week, on pliysical geography, the atmosphere and climatology. 
The barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, and psycorometer. 
Effect of clearing off of forests. Relations of temperature to 
the atmosphere and the earth, and the consequent distribution 
of plants. Peculiarities of land and sea climate, and their 
causes. Winds. Warmth and moisture. Amount of rain, 
dew, number of rainy days, storms, fall of hail, and their dis- 
tribution over the year, and the consequent physical charac- 
teristics of the soil. Explanation of the century calendar, and 
of the so-called rules for determining the weather. Tempera- 
ture of the soil. Observations at different depths. Baromet- 
rical and thermometrical measurement of hights. Construc- 
tion of sun-dials. 

Judge Schleisinger lectured in the second course twice a 
week, in both terms, on the general German agricultural law 
in regard to the more important private rights and later laws in 
regard to cultivation. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 55 

This course was comprehensive, embracing the general prin- 
ciples of rights, persons and things, and the laws affecting 
property, real and personal. 

The royal master of forests, Bierdimpfel, lectured in the 
winter term on the introduction to the management of forests, 
the structure of woods, plants, and their relation to the air, 
climate and soil, and on the definition of the technical forest 
expressions. 

Summer Term. 

On forest cultivation, protection of forests. These courses 
were illustrated by excursions into the neighboring forests 
belonging to the government. 

In addition to the short and frequent botanical and other 
excursions in the neighborhood, long excursions are made, from 
time to time, to various parts of the kingdom, the students 
being accompanied on them by one or more professors. Special 
subjects are assigned to some one or more of the class on which 
to write out a detailed report. As an example, the last great 
excursion which took place previous to my visit was made to 
Northern Bavaria, to Niirnberg, and so round to Augsburg, to 
visit the wool market in that city. In the former city, tliere 
was, at that time, a great meeting of Bavarian farmers for the 
discussion of agricultural topics ; an agricultural convention, iu 
other words. That was taken into the trip; That part of the 
kingdom, as well as Franconia, througli which the direction 
lay, is largely devoted to the culture of hops. Now two of the 
students were appointed to write out an account of the journey 
in general ; three to write on the culture of the hop ; two on 
fruit culture, as seen in the excursion ; another on irrigation ; 
another on garlic-land ; another on the art of manuring ; four 
others on cattle ; two others on the visit to Lichtenhof Agricul- 
tural School ; another on bees ; two others on the wool market, 
&c. A full report of the excursion is thus made, mostly 
written by the students themselves, and printed in connection 
with the annual report of the school. 

The arrangement of the hours for the lectures at this school, 
is as follows : — 



56 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 









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58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The nurseries on the farm are extensive and the sales from 
them profitable ; but probably the brewery is the most profitable 
branch of the establishment. Here are used more than ten thou- 
sand bushels of malt a year. In the year ending with July 1st, 
1863, it used 3,668 Bavarian schefFel, or about eleven thousand 
bushels. In the same year over a thousand bushels of potatoes 
were used in the distillery. There were sold from the nursery, 
in the same time, 8,520 trees. 

Just before I was there a terribly destructive hail-storm had 
occurred, and I never saw such magnificent fields of wlieat and 
other grain so completely riddled and ruined. It was painful 
to look upon. It had given promise of an extraordinary yield 
up to the time of the hail, but it was very nearly a dead loss 
when I saw it. A committee of appraisers from the insurance 
company for crops was on to estimate the damages. The wide- 
spread system of insurance, of which the institute had fortu- 
nately availed itself, saved it from very great loss, which 
otherwise would have fallen very heavily upon it. 

I was indebted to Professors May and Dohlemann for many 
kind attentions. The director was much occupied with the 
people who were to estimate the damage of the storm. 

I should add that much instruction is given in the field and 
the nurseries, in the barn and other parts of the establishment, 
by practical demonstrations. There is a reading-room and a 
library ; there are extensive collections and other appliances. 

SCHLEISSHEIM. 

This is now a school of practical farming corresponding to 
the Ackerbauschule at Hohenheim, that is, the pupils are the 
sons of peasants mostly, and they enter the school to work a 
considerable part of the time. The number of students at the 
time of my visit was thirty-four. 

This school was founded in 1822 as a higher agricultural 
institute like Hohenheim, but the lands at Weihenstephan 
being well adapted to the purposes of a model farm, the higher 
department was removed to that estate some years ago, leaving 
Schleissheira, and this latter has since remained as a school of 
practice. The estate consists of about six thousand five hun- 
dred acres, and like many other establishments of the kind, it 
possesses a fine old royal residence or chateau, the whole lying 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 59 

in an immense, bnt not very fertile valley. I have seen it 
intimated that the lands were so decidedly inferior and unpro- 
ductive that the intention of the government in giving it over 
to the school to be managed by scientific men was to put the 
value of scientific principles in agriculture to the severest pos- 
sible test. I believe, if such was the case, that there has been 
little reason to exult in the triumphs gained over such power- 
ful natural obstacles as a poor soil and an ungenial climate, and 
I think it may be taken to be as great a mistake to select land 
for a model farm, or an agricultural college farm, that is much 
below the average of natural fertility, as it would be to select 
one very much above it. In the first case even scientific man- 
agement can hardly be charged with the responsibility of a 
failure to produce high crops, and in the latter, it would not 
get the credit of whatever it did produce. Neither would be a 
fair test of the skill and science applied to it. 

The character of the soil led to the early adoption of a twenty 
years rotation, in which wheat came in but once, oats five 
times, rye and barley one year each, grass occupying six years, 
and one year being given over to an idle fallow. 

The buildings are old and immense in extent, arranged in 
the form of parallelograms with broad open courts or yards 
between. Tlie whole has an air of majestic desolation. I do 
not think palaces especially well adapted for the purposes of 
agricultural schools. The endless stables were partly occupied 
by horses belonging to the Bavarian cavalry. 

The course of instruction is more practical than theoretical, 
that is, of the time devoted to study and training two-thirds is 
given to practical work and one-third to theoretical. 

The theoretical instruction, which comes mostly in winter 
and on rainy days in summer, when it becomes impracticable 
to work out-doors, embraces — 

1. Religion. A brief survey of the history of religion and 
biblical history. 

2. Elementary studies, arithmetic, orthography. In arith- 
metic, the fundamental rules and fractions, exercises in 
reducing common currencies, weights and measures, and 
measurements of space. It is especially mathematics applied 
to agriculture. As large a proportion as possible is mental. 



60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

About an hour a week is devoted to orthography, to teach 
correct writing and language, and to develop facility in writing. 
It includes examples of receipts, bills, notices, &c. 

3. Agriculture. On climate, atmosphere, knowledge and 
estimation of kinds of soil and their cultivation or working. 
On machines and implements, their manufacture and repair, the 
parts of which they are composed and their use, the handling 
and management of sowing, threshing and cutting machines, 
to guard against accidents. On the formation of manure 
heaps and the manufacture of manure, the application of 
different sorts of manure. On the knowledge of seeds, and the 
different methods of sowing and planting. Tiie treatment of 
plants during the period of growth. The reduction of different 
feeding substances to the hay value. Estimation of the neces- 
sary requirements of manure. On the various methods of 
harvesting, threshing, preservation and drying. On the valua- 
tion of fruits. On the arrangement and keeping of simple farm 
registers. Plan and model drawing from measurement; 

Technical Employments. — On milk and the products of 
milk. On the erection and management of brandy distilleries, 
and the suitable materials to use. 

Culture op Mowing Lands. — Preliminary instruction. 1. 
Levelling by the application of the level and other instruments. 
2. Measuring of level surfaces, lines, angles, and figures ; tri- 
angles, quadrangles, right angles, the circle, practical exercises 
in these operations. 3. Laying out trenches and dams for 
water or irrigated meadows, calculation of bodies of water, and 
the requirements of water for irrigated meadows. 4. Tools for 
field culture. 

The practical management of meadows. Study of meadow 
or field plants. Requirements of seed and time of sowing. 
Seed raising. Manuring mowings with barn and compost 
manures, with liquid and artificial manures ; the hay harvest 
and its yield. Preparation of brown hay ; care and improve- 
ment of meadows other than irrigation. 

Drainage. — When and how to be applied. The work pre- 
paratory to draining. 

Cattle Breeding. — Application of anatomy to horse, cattle, 
sheep, and swine breeding. The various breeds and their 
characteristics. Explanation of particular methods of improv- 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 61 

ing the breeds of cattle, through the introduction of foreign 
males, and through in and in breeding, &c. 

1. Explanation of characteristics according to the kind of use 
required, feeding for beef, milk and draught. 

2. Choice of animals for breeding, according to age, use, 
special points. 

3. Treatment of the breeding animal, — feeding and care. 

4. Parturition. Treatment immediately after. 

5. Management of the calf. Methods of raising. Quantity 
and quality of milk for its nourishment. 

6. Feeding, management and care of the young animal up 
to the period of use. 

7. The same of the full-grown animal. Quantity and quality 
of food for milking, fattening, and working animals. Housing 
of sheep, product of wool, and the cleansing of it. 

8. Adaptation to work. 

9. Purchase and sale of animals, especially tlie horse. 

The students are instructed in veterinary manipulations, and 
so far as possible applied in practice. Bleeding at several points 
in different animals. Treatment of wounds, &c. Shoeing of 
horses and oxen. 

The proper management of forests, in all its branches, also 
forms a part of the instruction, as well as that of fruit trees. 

Excursions are also made to neighboring estates for the pur- 
poses of observation, the results of which are written out by the 
pupils. Money is sometimes appropriated by the government 
to defray the expenses of long excursions. 

Experiments are conducted in the making of implements, and 
the application of manures, and the cultivation of plants. 

There is a collection of models, a herbarium, a library, and 
tools, and workshops for repairing the smaller agricultural imple- 
ments, and the preparation of models. The students are held 
to a pretty strict line of conduct ; neatness, order, and industry 
are inculcated and required. An examination takes place at 
the close of the course, and prizes awarded according to merit. 

The number of cows kept is ninety ; the number of yokes of 
oxen thirty-six. They make cheese and butter. The age of 
the students varies from sixteen to twenty. The tuition, board, 
<fec., amounts to about 80 florins, or about 33 dollars. Each 



62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

student costs the government about 125 florins, but the balance 
is made up from the public treasury. 

The young men are certainly not liable to acquire luxurious 
habits here. I visited them, by invitation of Professor Anselm, 
teacher of agriculture, while they were at supper, and had 
various opportunities for -conversation with several of them. 
Their fare appeared to be what, in our reformatory and correc- 
tional institutions, would be called " very hard," and yet they 
seemed to be quite contented and happy. 

I sliould think the institution well calculated to send out a 
hardy, frugal, intelligent, industrious class of young men, who 
might testify with regard to their training as Socrates did with 
regard to Xantippe, " being firmly convinced that in case I 
should be able to endure her, I should be able to endure all 
others." 

There is nothing imposing in the buildings or their arrange- 
ment. They are substantially built of stone, in low, long 
ranges surrounding a large yard or open space. There is a 
blacksmith's and a wheelwright's shop in a part of the range, 
and many agricultural implements are turned out here by the 
slow processes of hand labor, some of them excellent, but all 
rather more remarkable for strength than elegance. 

Brown Hay. — They prepare here, and in many other parts 
of Germany, what is called brown-hay. When the grass is 
partially wilted, it is collected and spread in layers, and firmly 
trodden down. It is dried by the heat which is generated in 
the mow. If the wilted grass is to be thus made into hay, it 
must be taken when neither too juicy nor too dry. Leaves, 
heads, and blossoms must remain firmly on the stalk. 

In good hay weather, the grass may be cut in the morning, 
and after being wilted and turned, and after lying six or seven 
hours, carted in and trodden down. The mow or stack may be 
from ten to twenty-five feet high. If not high enough, the 
grass does not generate sufficient heat, and moulds and injures. 
But if the stack is too high, the weight too great, the hay may 
become black and mildewed, because the warmth becoming too 
great, does not find its way off" sufficiently fast. If the stack 
is put up outside the barn, under a straw-thatched roof resting 
on poles, they round it up very much in the shape of our 
stacks, not less than ten feet in diameter. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 63 

To preserve the hay, the treading must be carefully done, so 
as to get it as firm as possible, and to have it all trodden down 
uniformly. The firmer it is the better, and this is regarded as 
of the first importance, since it heats all the more, and the 
moisture is more completely driven o£f, till it soon becomes 
quite dry. 

On the top layer of hay, from six to eight inches of straw is 
spread, that no mould may attack the hay on the top, and that 
the evaporating moisture passes into the straw. If the work is 
well done in building the stack, the hand cannot be pressed 
into the sides. Within a few days, the heat is so much devel- 
oped that in thrusting in the hand it is very perceptible. 

After five or six weeks, the heat is entirely gone, and the 
hay is very fragrant, and ready for feeding out. It is of a 
brown color when so treated, and hence called brown hay. In 
using, it is cut down perpendicularly with a knife, so that it 
comes off in vertical layers. It is a perfectly healthy and 
sound fodder, and is eaten greedily by stock. 

The advantages of this method of curing hay are — 

1st. That even in rather bad weather, the haying is quickly 
over. 

2d. That the hay is more nutritious than that cured in the 
usual way. It is estimated as fifteen per cent, better. The 
reason of this is that with the wilted grass all the blossoms and 
flowers of the meadow grasses and the finer leaves are secured, 
which in working over in dried hay are, to a great extent, lost. 

3d. That much less space is required to preserve it, because 
it is trodden so solid. For these reasons, this mode of curing 
is adopted in many sections. In this method of drying, where 
the amount of. fodder is short, straw may be placed under the 
stack, in order to improve the straw by means of the heating 
whereby it becomes more soft and tender, and is relished much 
better by stock. If bad weather is feared, the grass may be 
got in much less wilted, and thus preserved by the mixture 
with straw. The greater moisture present ia the grass is 
divided uniformly with the dry straw. 

Bad, or what is called sour hay, if made into brown hay, is 
much more palatable to cattle, and all the more if a little salt 
is strewn over the layers. 



64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Grass usually comes into blossom there, as with us, in the 
latter part of June or by the first of July, and that is regarded 
as the most suitable time for cutting it. 

LICHTENHOF. 

This institute is about a mile from Niirnberg towards the 
south. It was founded in 1832 by Dr. Weidenkeller. The 
farm, originally composed of sand and gravel, almost barren, 
was gradually changed into a good soil, now apparently fertile 
and productive, by the students. 

The stately buildings of the institute stand at the right of the 
entrance, and on the left the botanic garden. The buildings 
are in a modern style, contrasting strangely with the antique 
structures in the neighborhood. The dwelling of the inspector 
is within the college enclosure, as also that of Mrs. Weidenkel- 
ler, and just beyond, the dormitories for eighty students, the 
lecture rooms, the laboratory, a spacious eating saloon, which 
serves also as a work room, a library and wash room. 

The botanical garden contains all, or nearly all, the agricul- 
tural plants, arranged in the Linnaean order, besides many of the 
more common forest trees. The garden of the institute for the 
growth of vegetables and fruits also joins the botanical garden. 
Among the fruit trees stands the monument to Dr. Weiden- 
keller, the founder. A little way beyond lies the experimental 
field. The improved grounds near by contain a good nursery 
of trees. In a little grove, on a knoll, a monument is erected 
to His Majesty, King Max. A broad space is devoted to orna- 
mental plants and farm crops. The experimental field is about 
two acres in extent. There is also a hop garden on a piece of 
reclaimed swamp. This piece was improved by the pupils 
without much cost. 

Near the main building stands a second, which contains the 
collections. They consist of skeletons and anatomical prepara- 
tions, a crocodile, birds, domestic game and some malformations, 
several models of systems of irrigation, collections of insects, 
minerals, &c. 

The stocks of bees were presented by Dzierzon, and therefore 
of special interest. The mode of operation is easily seen from 
the arrangement of the hives. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 65 

The farm buildings consist of cow and horse stalls, shed and 
coach house. There were about thirty cows, consisting of 
Allgauers and Simmenthalers, a few Ansbachers and EUingers. 
The roof of the cow-house is built of wood, the sides of stone. 

The instruction at this institute is not strictly agricultural. 
Much of it, in fact, has no more bearing on agriculture than 
on any other calling. Religion, the German language, geog- 
raphy, arithmetic, zoology and drawing are prescribed studies 
in the first year. Agriculture and practical agricultural exer- 
cises come in for a share of attention, but they don't seem to be 
especially prominent in the programme. 

The second year is a continuation of the first, with a little 
botany, geometry, mineralogy and history added, while in the 
third year, agricultural chemistry, farm accounts, rural archi- 
tecture, machinery, the anatomy and physiology of animals, vet- 
erinary, medicine, drawing, riding, fencing and other practical 
exercises come in and add variety. 

This institute ranks as intermediate in the list of Bavarian 
agricultural schools. It has the advantage of close proximity 
to the market of the curious old city of Niirnberg, and is, I 
should think, in a tolerably flourishing condition. Niirnberg is 
in Middle Franconia, somewhat over a hundred miles north of 
Munich. 

INSTITUTE AT GRIGNON, IN FRANCE. 

I visited this celebrated school in company with Governor 
Wright, of Indiana. It was a beautiful day in August, and the 
excursion was, in many respects, highly interesting. 

The improvement of the soil of the country, and a cheap 
production by means of this improvement ; the advantageous 
employment in agriculture of the capital of the country ; the 
continued occupation and elevation of the rural population of 
France, and the increase of that population, were the principles 
which led to the foundation of this establishment, in 1829. Tlie 
great precept of the first director, M. A. Bella, was that the 
improvement of the soil is the most fruitful source of the cheap 
production of the necessaries of life. 

King Charles X. bought the domain at Grignon, which was 
selected by M. Bella, and granted it, for forty years, on the 
following conditions : — 
9 



66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

1. To apply a perfected and instructive system of agriculture 
on the domain. 

2. To organize a scientific and practical course of instruc- 
tion in agriculture. 

3. To make all local and needed repairs. 

4. To make permanent improvements to the value of 
800,000 francs, such as buildings, roads, canals, clearing from 
rocks, plantations, &c. 

5. To improve the lands in addition to the sum named. 

6. To renovate the forests on the place. 

It was started as a sort of joint stock company on these con- 
ditions, which were considered as very reasonable. 

In other words, the estate being made over by the government 
on an appraised or fixed valuation, the subscribers were to furnish 
the capital to stock and carry on the farm, and to make per- 
manent improvements in buildings, roads, drainage, &c., to 
the amount of 7,500 francs, or $1,600, a year, in lieu of rent. 
That amount was considered due, as rent to be paid in tliis 
manner. The government at the outset offered no furtlier 
encoviragement. 

The subscribers to the fund regarded their stock as an invest- 
ment, and not as so much given to the public, and they 
expected a return of interest on the capital invested. It will 
be seen that here was a difficult problem to solve ; the manage- 
ment of the farm in such a manner as to show to the neighbor- 
hood and the country that the method adopted was better than 
others, which was necessary in order to secure for it a proper 
degree of confidence and respect, and at the same time to hire 
teachers and keep up the machinery of scientific and practical 
instruction, and after doing both, to make a net annual dividend 
to the stockholders. 

To meet this somewhat anomalous condition, it was found 
necessary to be a little economical in salaries to teachers and 
professors, and thereby to sacrifice to some extent the interests 
of the people, to whom the value and efficiency of the enter- 
prise as an institute of agriculture was of the first importance. 
The profits of the farm had to make up any deficiencies in the 
costs of the school, but tlie necessity of low salaries made it 
impossible to secure teachers of the highest talent, while the 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 67 

price fixed for tuition, &c., put it out of the power of many- 
students to attend the course. 

The government, seeing very early in the undertaking that 
the company would be likely to have a hard bargain, very 
generously offered pecuniary aid in addition to the terms on 
which the estate was taken, but the director refused to accept 
it, fearing that it would injure the influence and credit of his 
farming, as an example or model for others, if it were known 
that any part of the funds came from sources other than the 
farm itself. The same objection could not be urged against 
the salaries of the professors being assumed by the government, 
and tliis enabled the school to secure a much higher grade of 
talent in its corps of instructors, while the terms were reduced 
so as to increase the number of pupils and the efficiency and 
importance of the school. 

The director, M. Bella, — father of the present director, — 
in one of his earlier reports, makes the following sensible 
remarks : — 

" Instruction in husbandry may truly be said not to partake 
of the nature of those branches of education which admit of 
being pursued in the centre of large cities ; it is at once so vast 
and so complicated, and it stands so much in need of a union 
of theory with practice, that the chairs created in towns, though 
they may spread a taste for agriculture, cannot in themselves 
form expert husbandmen. 

" If government were to feel itself called upon to carry on 
a system of farming operations in all their separate depart- 
ments, in order to test the soundness of theories by the results 
of practice, many difficulties would occur in the execution of 
the task, and a much more lavish expenditure must, if we 
may trust to general belief, be incurred, than would happen if 
the same were in the hands of individuals. It is more prudent, 
therefore, on the part of the State, that it should associate 
itself with some scheme already in the hands of individuals, 
and even here its intervention would be prejudicial, if its co- 
operation were proffered to establishments which did not 
present in themselves sufficient guarantees, and if the assistance 
it afforded were not confined within proper limits. 

" Thus it would plainly be a fault for it to mix itself up with 
any scheme, which did not possess the conditions of duration 



68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

necessary for the accomplishment of its proposed office ; or 
which had not been proved to contain within itself the elements 
of success ; or, lastly, which did not promise to establish by its 
results, that tlie cooperation of the government was designed 
solely for the advantage of the country at large, and not to 
promote the individual benefit of the company." 

Thus the government came in simply in aid of a private 
speculation so far as to supply the means of a better kind of 
instruction, at a less cost to students who should enter the 
school of agriculture. The aid came in to enlarge the benefits 
of the institution, and to increase the means of diffusing agri- 
cultural knowledge. 

The wisdom of the early interference and aid of the govern- 
ment is sufficiently attested by the subsequent history of the 
establishment. Carried on with the idea and expectation of 
profit, no expensive experiments could be undertaken, of 
course, and after the school had been some ten years in opera- 
tion, the director excused himself, to a gentleman who called, 
for not making experiments, by saying that the school was 
supported by stockholders with whom it was an indispensable 
condition, that the farm should pay a profit; saying, at the 
same time, that the German schools like Hohenheim, being 
supported by government, ought to be expected to make 
researches calculated to throw light on the principles of agri- 
culture. 

The lands were poor and much run out, though various in 
natural quality. Now the lands are worth six times as much 
as they were when the enterprise began, while some hundreds 
of young agriculturists have gone forth, competent for advice 
and execution, to apply the principles of the improved culture 
in various parts of the world. 

In 1848, the government took the instruction under its 
charge, reduced the number of professors from eight to six, 
transformed the royal institute into a regional school, and on 
the 7th of December, 1852, this school received the title of 
Imperial School of Agriculture. The management of the 
estate remained in the hands of the society, a sort of board of 
trustees, which bears the title of Agricultural Society of Grig- 
non. The director is nominated by the council of the society 
and confirmed by the Minister of Agriculture. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 69 

The capital employed amounts to $80 an acre of the culti- 
vated land, and includes the stock, fixtures, forage, grain, &c., 
that is, the whole working outfit of the farm. This capital pays 
on the average about 10 per cent. ; a part of it goes to the 
share-holders, a part to the increase of implements, and a part 
to the establishment of a reserve or sinking fund, which is 
already about $16,000. 

As to the farm, it was not necessary, to show the merits of 
improved culture and the benefit it can render to the country, 
to select lands already rich and productive. M. Bella refused 
other places which were offered, and chose Grignon, which was 
noted for its undesirable condition and the poverty of its soil. 
Many things were in its favor, however. The extent of the 
domain, the importance of the buildings, a large park walled in, 
a sufficient distance from cities, a very favorable climate, a soil 
so situated as to correspond to conditions farther south than 
even many places in the south of France itself, the neighbor- 
hood of the great markets of Poissy and Saint Germain, and of 
the celebrated flocks of Rambouillet, Videville and of Doua- 
I'iere, and that of Paris, with its great scientific and industrial 
establishments, its museum of natural history, its conserva- 
tory of arts and trades, while several great and practically 
model farms, which offered an opportunity for valuable practical 
instruction to the pupils were near by, and pointed to Grignon 
as the place to found a great agricultural institute. 

The domain is situated about twenty or twenty-five miles 
west of Paris, and sixteen or eighteen north of Rambouillet, 
and consists of about 1,170 acres, of which 600 are arable, 70 
or so in natural pasture, 10 in garden, 6 under water, 70 occu- 
pied by buildings, roads and gardens, and the balance woodland. 

These lands are partly on a plateau, nearly 400 feet above 
the level of the sea, and partly in a valley rather abrupt, at the 
bottom of which runs a stream which rises at Versailles, about 
ten miles off. This valley embraces the park of Grignon, of 
about 750 acres in extent, enclosed. They formerly belonged 
to the immense estates of noble families, till divided at the 
revolution of 1793, when this part, the estate of Grignon, 
passed into the hands of the father-in-law of Marshal Ney, who 
was married there. It was bought by Napoleon I. and given to 
Marshal Bessieres. Napoleon used to come there to hunt foxes. 



70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The widow of Bessieres sold it to ^Charles X. The Duchess 
d'Angouleme visited it in company with the Duke of Bordeaux, 
and afterwards the Duke of Orleans and the Duke de Nemours 
paid their respects there. 

The soil near the brook in the valley is, in part, a rich allu- 
vial deposited by the stream. This rests on a white chalk, 
colored with black silex, which constitutes the bottom of the 
valley. Plastic clay occurs a little higher up. Coarse lime- 
stone, rises above this clay, and contains marl very rich in 
shells, perfectly preserved. Six hundred varieties are found in 
it. This land is very rocky. The calcareous parts of the soil 
are wanting in depth, and become extremely dry and liard in 
summer. They are valued in the neighborhood at from sixteen 
to forty dollars an acre. The climate is good. It is seventy- 
five or eighty miles from the sea. Peaches, trailed up in espa- 
lier fashion on the garden wall, were in full bearing when I was 
there. 

Tlie buildings are arranged in a manner little adapted to the 
objects of the institute. They are 1,200 feet from the lowest 
part of the valley, and separated from most of the farm by 
steep slopes, which adds so much to the labor account, that 
Thaer said he would never have consented to undertake to cul- 
tivate in such conditions. The chateau is of very simple and 
solid architecture, built of stone and brick, in the style of Louis 
XIII., the time when it was constructed. It forms an open 
square to the north, at the angles of which there are four pavil- 
ions. The principal body, towards the south-west, comprises, 
on the ground floor, the vestibules, the chapel, the eating 
saloons and the collections. On the second and third stories 
are the dormitories. The south pavilion contains the kitchen 
below ground, the offices of the agricultural society at the 
entrance, and those of the school and of the director on the 
second floor. The body of the wing and pavilion is appropri- 
ated to the director and his family. 

The west pavilion and west wing include the halls and recita- 
tion rooms, the north pavilion the apartments of the assistant- 
director. There are open courts on the two sides, at the south- 
west of the chateau. The farm buildings, since they have 
been occupied by the society, have become quite insufficient, 
and many additions have been required in the shape of grana- 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 71 

ries, pig-sties, sheep-folds, and a starch manufactory, which at 
least double the former capacity of the farm. The new build- 
ings are simple and well-adapted to the end in view. 

The stable is placed in the left hand side of the yard, the 
same as that occupied by the former residents of the chateau. 
It contains twenty, mares or gelded horses. The mare has 
been preferred on account of her quiet docility and lower 
price, and also because some attention is paid to breeding. 
Most of them are Percherons, and crosses with Percherons and 
Normans, and Bretons. Two are Suffolks, and two crosses of 
Cleveland Bays and Suffolks. The ox-stalls have ten head of 
the Swiss and Durham, Swiss and Limousin crosses. The 
stables for the dairy are placed at the north side of the two 
farm ways. They hold about a hundred head, of Normans 
and Swiss and some Shorthorn and Norman crosses, some 
Ayrshires, and some of the little Bretons. 

A long experience has shown that at Grignon, the Swiss, 
which are the heaviest, are kept more easily than other races, 
even when obliged to keep them on poor and insufficient pas- 
tures, and that they are most profitable, that is, they give a 
greater yield of milk in proportion to food and live weight. 
The average yield of milk varies, generally, from six and a 
half to eight quarts per head per day for the year. Milk is the 
chief object of the dairy, because the production of milk gives 
a larger profit from an acre of forage than beef; but they try to 
combine the production of milk with a fat carcase, without 
feeding so high, however, as to lay on tallow. The bulls are 
worked daily. The herd is fed in the stable, as far as possible, 
but driven out for exercise each day, especially the young 
cattle. A herdsman has charge of from eighteen to twenty- 
two, feeding and milking them. 

A piggery has been built by the society. It keeps from forty 
to forty-five sows, and four or five boars. They consist, mostly, 
of the English Berkshires and Hampshires, which have been bred 
at Grignon from the start. They are held in high estimation 
and much sought after, both for breeding and fattening. They 
have got up a white breed, which is a little more fine and delicate. 
The Grignon breed is very hardy and prolific, the average of 
pigs very rarely falling below sixteen for each female in a year. 
That is the general average of the sties. It is easily fed and 



72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

fattened. They easily obtain 270 pounds of pork, at eight 
months, and 450 at a year old. Young choice pigs are readily 
sold at $6 apiece, at four weeks old, and ordinary ones at 13, 
for fattening. 

The sheep-fold was built for the purpose, and is capable of 
keeping 1,200 sheep and their food. The larger part of the 
flock is composed of a cross of Leicester-Merinos, in the pro- 
portion of three-quarters Merinos and one-quarter Leicester. 
This cross is now fixed at Grignon, and gives excellent results. 
The sheep are generally fattened at two years, and give, at this 
age, from forty-five to sixty pounds of mutton. The wool is 
long and can be carded, and is sold from two to two and a half 
francs the killogramme (of two and a quarter pounds.) The 
average weight of the fleece is about nine pounds, in the grease. 
They have also a small flock of South Downs, which is very much 
esteemed for the quality of its mutton and its easy keeping 
qualities. A shepherd has charge of from two to three hundred 
head. 

They also keep some fowls and raise silk-worms, commencing 
in June and ending in July, but only enough to serve the pur- 
poses of instruction. 

A part of the yard which separates the cow stalls from tlie 
hay and forage barn, is devoted to making manure, in platforms 
on which it is worked over. The attention of visitors is espec- 
ially called to the process of making manure, a thing too often 
neglected in France; and yet the great and single problem 
to solve, in agricultural industry, is the economical manufacture 
of manure. Quantity, quality and cheap fertilizing materials, 
are the source of great profit and prosperity in farming. 

The choice of cropping and the low price of forage, the rations, 
<fec., modify the price of the yield and the quantity of manure 
produced ; the process of manufacture acting directly on tlie 
quality, it will be useful to indicate, in detail, the care devoted 
to this preparation. 

One man has special charge of this work. The manure plat- 
forms are sixty feet long and eighteen feet wide, and are carefully 
macadamized and made slightly convex towards the outer bor- 
ders. A trench surrounds them and serves to conduct the 
liquids, which empty into a kind of manure cistern, placed 
between the two heaps. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. . 73 

Every morning tlio manure of the horses, oxen and cows, is 
carried from the stables and wheeled, in wheelbarrows, upon 
the platforms ; there it is spread in layers regularly with the 
fork. 

The sheep manure is carried out of the pens every three 
weeks, in winter, and every six weeks in summer. This warm 
manure is carefully spread in alternate layers with that from 
the pig-sties. The heaps are raised to a height of nine feet. 
The upper part is covered with a layer of earth to prevent evap- 
oration, and to concentrate the gas generated by fermentation. 
The heaps are watered with the liquid accumulated in the 
trenches or cisterns, whenever it is necessary. 

When the manure has come to its normal condition, the vol- 
ume of the heaps has been reduced about one-third, and the 
cubic yard weighs about 1,690 pounds. There are 260 cubic 
yards to the heap. The number of these heaps made yearly 
is twelve to fifteen. 

When the time has come to carry out the manure into the 
fields, the precaution, is taken to cut it down with a manure 
knife in slices perpendicular to the platforms, in such a manner 
that the upper layers are mixed with the lower layers upon the 
cart. By this very simple mode the manure is equal and 
uniform upon the whole field. I examined this process with 
care, and its economy, where the labor is at command, 
appears to be proved by experience. The same mode could 
be adopted in many of our barn cellars, where much of the 
labor of wheeling would be saved. 

There is also an implement manufactory established as an 
aid in the courses of engineering and rural construction. It 
furnishes the students the tools which they have learned here to 
use, while many farmers rely upon the Grignon manufactory 
for the tools in general farm cultivation. They say they have 
orders from the centre of France, from Portugal, Spain, Algeria 
and America, though I do not think we have occasion to order 
largely. At the World's Fair of 1855-6 the Grignon plough 
was the lightest of all, and took the great gold medal. 

The tools made there, and used on the farm, are ploughs, 
and the gang ploughs, double and triple, are in high repute, 
harrows, cultivators, horse-hoes and scarifiers, rollers, seed- 
sowers, root-cutters, liquid manure pumps, carts, &c. 
10 



74 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

To the west of the chateau is a little building designed to 
furnish the pupils the means of cultivating a field of exercise 
and study. This building includes a stable and six head of 
cattle, a little barn, a collection of implements, another of cul- 
tivated plants, a granary and slaughter-house. On this place 
the students manage as they wish, going through all the opera- 
tions incident to a large estate. Close by is a shed for making 
drainage tile, and a beet-root distillery, a starch manufac- 
tory, &c. 

Depth of ploughing on the one hand and the abundance of the 
manures applied, as well as the character of the croppings and 
the rotation, distinguish the cultivation of Grignon over that of 
the general farming of France. They plough up the stubble as 
soon as possible after harvesting. This ploughing is designed 
for the destruction of weeds. The work is done with the 
double or triple plough, which is considered best for this pur- 
pose. The second ploughing is done with the ordinary plough, 
and when it is designed to sow colza or roots, another horse 
subsoil plough follows the third ploughing. 

As they make about 6,750,000 pounds of manure a year, 
they use nearly 70,000 pounds per acre. This manure is half 
decomposed and buried to the depth of the ploughing to compel 
plants to push their long roots down towards the subsoil. 

The domain is divided into nine courses, one of which is in 
natural meadow ; that is, cultivated with the natural or true 
grasses ; two for artificial meadows, lucerne, sainfoin and clover ; 
one for annual forage, vetches, pease, Indian corn, &c. ; and 
one for roots, the products of which are all consumed by the 
cattle. So that five-ninths of the area are designed to keep up 
the fertility of the soil, while four-ninths only are reserved for 
exhausting plants, the cereals and colza. Adding to this the 
fields lying along the brook, we see that the course of cropping 
adopted is decidedly ameliorating. They feed 900 pounds live 
weight of cattle per acre, on an average. Nor is tlie rotation 
adopted less calculated to improve the soil than the course of 
cropping, because it places the artificial meadows — clover, 
lucerne, &c., — in the most favorable conditions, close to the 
root crops, which are abundantly manured, and it alternates 
carefully the cereals with hoed crops which clean the land and 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 75 

prevent its exhaustion. . The manuring is not wholly used up 
when another is added, as will be seen in this course. 

1. Roots, strongly manured. 

2. Cereals, mostly spring grains. 

3. Clover. 

4. Wheat. 

5. Annual forage, for soiling cattle, half-manured. 

6. Colza. 

7. Wheat. 

There is, sometimes, a deviation from this rotation, kicerne 
sown instead of clover. Oats follow the old lucerne, and 
spring and autumn wheat follows roots. This rotation divides 
the labor over the season advantageously. 

The potato once stood at the head of the rotation at Grig- 
non. It contributed much to improve the calcareous soils 
newly turned up. They cultivated first a late yellow variety, 
which produced on an average from 330 to 350 bushels per 
acre. Since the appearance of the disease, they cultivate an 
early yellow variety, which does not yield more than from IGO 
to 275 bushels. 

The beets, first culti,vated for the immediate consumption of 
stock, had the best part of the rotation of roots. It was a 
variety of the Silesian, with the long neck, yielding largely. 
After that the yellow globe was preferred. But since the lands 
have been improved and the distillery was built the roots go 
first to the distillery and then to the stock, so that the sugar 
beet is cultivated. The Rose of Flanders, and white Magdeburg, 
comprise the greater part of the roots cultivated. They are 
sown with the Grignon seed-sower. The yield varies from 
36,000 to 74,000 pounds per acre. 

The carrot is the most expensive root cultivated, and yet it is 
the most profitable on account of its great yield. Carrots are 
grown for horses and to vary the root fodder of horned cattle 
and lambs. The varieties are the white, with the green neck 
and the long red. The average product per acre, 40,000 to 
to 60,000 pounds. 

The artichoke served as a transition crop to improve poor, 
calcareous soils, which it occupied for several years without 
receiving any manure. It has been since cultivated in the same 
conditions as other roots. It yields from 22,500 to 31,500 



76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

pounds of roots, on an average, per acre, and 2,700 pounds of 
stalks which, when cut, are mixed with the residue of the 
distillery and fed to cattle. 

Wheat, sown in spring after roots, manured and on a single 
ploughing, has regularly given results which compare well with 
winter wheat, not only in point of quantity yielded, but in 
weight and quality. The general yield is from twenty-seven to 
thirty-eight bushels per acre. Mixture of wheat is common 
there, and succeeds well. 

The oat cultivated there is brown and small. It yields well. 
It is the Houdan oat. Average product from thirty-three to 
sixty-six bushels per acre. 

The variety of barley is the two-rowed. Its average yield is 
from thirty-tliree to forty-five bushels per acre. 

Clover would not succeed well at first, at Grignon, and was 
not cultivated. Now it yields -excellent crops, amounting to 
from 2,700 to 4,500 pounds per acre. 

The high cost of vetches for seed and the advantages of 
Indian corn for green fodder have led to the extensive culture 
of the latter, but they cultivate all the kinds of green fodder 
from the earliest to the latest. Grignon first introduced the 
Molm de Ilongrie, or Hungarian millet, which has succeeded 
admirably. 

Colza, after having been cultivated by sowing in rows, is now 
always transplanted. 

Sainfoin formerly was cultivated alone but is now mixed 
with lucerne and clover, in order to render the meadows more 
suitable for pasturing sheep. Lucerne is sown at the rate of 
twenty-two pounds per acre. The variety which has given ihe 
best result is that of Provence. It yields from 2,700 to 5,400 
pounds per acre. The farm cuts not far from about 300 tons 
of hay, including the lucerne and clover. About forty-eight 
acres are in natural meadows, that is, in Timothy, redtop and 
similar grasses. 

It is a precept of the school at Grignon that the land is a 
machine which it is best to improve, whenever it is in favorable 
economical relations, in order to make it work as well as 
possible. The improvements accordingly commenced on the 
poorest, or, at least, the most exhausted lands, and they have 
been pretty complete. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 77 

Though the imperial school was detached from the charge of 
the agricLiltural society the personnel of instruction and the 
relations of the students, with the body carrying on the farm, 
have not changed. The society and direction furnish, as 
formerly, all the means of study and investigation that can be 
desired. The school and the farm are under the same director. 

The pupils are required to work four hours a day, and are 
successively charged with different service on the farm, which 
they are called upon to observe daily. They assist from four 
and a half in the morning, in the order of work which the 
director gives to the different chiefs, and in the evening they 
assist in the daily reports which are given in to the director, 
and in entering upon the books the reports upon all the opera- 
tions of the farm. The labors which they perform are various. 
They comprise the cultivation, the care of animals, the manu- 
factories, the permanent improvements, building of roads, the 
care of the forest, the gardens, &c. They attend, during the visits 
of the veterinary surgeon, in the cattle stalls ; they curry the 
cattle and horses, and perform various operations under the 
directions of the heads of the various branches. Each pupil is 
obliged to make a detailed report to the director upon the work 
he performs, and is allowed to make any suggestions he may see 
fit, which are accepted and acted on when practicable. 

This constitutes the practical part of their education. Two 
are appointed as general inspectors under the orders of the 
director, and the duties alternate ; that is, a certain number 
has charge of one department for a certain length of time, say a 
week or a month, and then they are assigned to another depart- 
ment in succession ; as, for instance, four may be charged with 
the management of the oxen ; two with that of the horses ; two 
with the pigs ; two with the sheep ; two with the poultry ; four 
with the silk-worm establishment ; forming thus a sort of 
committee on each branch, the duty of which is to see that 
proper attention is paid to all the details, as among stock, to 
see that it is properly fed, to note the results of any changes of 
feed, &c. So, too, with the garden ; two or more are appointed ; 
two on woods and plantations ; two to inspect the repairs and 
improvements going on ; two on the manufacture of starch, 
cheese and other manufactured products ; two on book-keeping 
and accounts, &c. 



78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

I believe the practice is to have one of the two on each 
committee of two years standing and the other a newly-entered 
pupil. At the end of the week all are required to make a 
report in the presence of the whole school, when the professor 
comments or enlarges upon the various operations going on, 
and gives such additional information as may be suggested by 
the facts presented. In addition to this exercise, which has 
the effect to train the young men in the art of composition and 
the skilful use of language, as well as to keep them informed 
of the working of the whole system, the professor takes the 
classes to see the various operations on the farm, pointing out 
the most approved method of performing them, &g. He lec- 
tures thus on the different practical processes of farming at the 
seasons when they actually take place. 

Each professor, in his own department, moreover, is expected 
to give his instruction a practical turn, by means of short 
excursions, botanical, geological, &c. 

It is thus they are initiated into the daily routine of the farm, 
and become the active agents of this great rival administration. 
Whenever an interesting experiment is proposed by a student, 
the director "puts the machinery, animals, &c., at the disposal 
of the professors or tutors, and the pupils are designated to 
make the investigations. 

The school takes only inside pupils ; that is, they must all 
live on the place. No one is admitted except on a preparatory 
examination at the chief place of his department, and final 
trials also take place at the school. The candidate must be 
seventeen years old, and be a Frenchman or a naturalized 
citizen. Whoever desires to enter must address his application 
to the Minister of Agriculture, on or before the 25th September 
of each year, with certificates — 

1st. Of the place and date of birth. 

2d. Certificate of the mayor of his residence, to the effect 
that he is of good life and morals. 

3d. Of a physician, that he has been vaccinated, and has 
had the petit varioloid. 

4th. An obligation, on stamped paper, by the parents, tutor, 
or guardian of the candidate, to guarantee the payment, a term 
in advance, of his board during his sojourn at the school. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 79 

After passing the examination at home and having got the 
authority of the Minister of Agriculture, they repair to Grignon 
on the morning of the 1st of October, present themselves to the 
director, who gives each a number in the order in which they 
will be examined. This examination embraces the following : — 
• In arithmetic, the four rules, fractions, extraction of square 
and cubic roots, proportions and progressions, and the rule of 
three. 

In geometry, propositions relative to straight lines, angles, 
circles, measuring of lines and plane surfaces, equivalent to the 
first four books of Legendre. In physics, the general properties 
of bodies, the thermometer and the barometer. 

A composition in French is also required, to show the 
orthography and grammar of the applicant. When the trial is 
ended, the admission is declared according to the order of 
merit. The number of new pupils is limited. When admitted, 
they enter immediately upon the duties assigned them. 

The duration of the studies is three years, after which the 
capable and meritorious students receive a certificate. The 
best students, on going out, can have positions for two years in 
some of the agricultural establishments of the government. 

The school year begins the first of October, and is divided into 
two terms. At the end of each there is an examination by a 
committee. The first term is five months, and tlie general 
examinations at the end of the first term take place from the 
1st to the 15th of March, Then the second term begins, and 
comprises the last half of March, the intervening months till 
August, when the vacation begins. 

The instruction is theoretical and applied. The first com- 
prises — 

1. A course of physics, chemistry, mineralogy and geology, 
applied to agriculture. 

2. Rural engineering. 

3. Cultivation. 

4. Zootechny and agricultural zoology. 

5. Sylvseculture and botany. 

6. Economy and rural legislation. 

7. Practical notions of farm accounts. 

The practical instruction is manual and rational. It com- 
prises the use and management of farm tools, implements, 



80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

carriages, machines; the organization and execution of the 
principal operations of agriculture, ploughing, sowing, seeding, 
harvesting, treatment of root crops, care of farm stock of every 
kind, exercises in linear drawing, surveying, laying out plans, 
levelling, getting the cubic contents of solids, some of the 
manipulations of the laboratory, analysis of soils, application of 
manures, &c. Agricultural excursions are made, as well as 
botanical, geological, and forest. Instruction is given by obser- 
vation in the horse and cattle stables, and by demonstrations 
on the field. In each speciality of theoretical and practical 
instruction, the professor is aided by a tutor. All these courses, 
examinations, &c., are expressly obligatory on every pupil. 

There is a chaplain and a physician attached to the school. 

The price of board, &g., is |150 a year. It includes food, 
lodging and bed, medical attendance, warming, lighting, and 
washing. 

Prizes are distributed among the most deserving pupils. 

There are three of these imperial schools of agriculture in 
France, but Grignon is the largest, as well as the oldest and 
best, though the regulations, terms of admission, course of 
instruction, &c., are the same in all. 

The number of pupils at Grignon is usually seventy-five. 

CIRENCESTER. 

The agricultural college of Cirencester, in England, is situated 
in Gloucestershire, about ninety-five miles from London. It 
was incorporated on the 27th March, 1845, for the purpose of 
affording a practical and scientific agricultural education to stu- 
dents from all parts of the kingdom. 

I visited it in June, taking letters of introduction to Prof. 
Voelcker, who has, for some years, held the chair of agricultural 
chemistry ; but who, like most of the other professors, had 
resigned, and was about removing with his family into London. 
Owing, partly no doubt, to the peculiar mode of management, 
this institution does not appear to have commended itself very 
strongly to the confidence and good-will of the people, and 
hence it has proved to be a partial, not to say a complete failure. 
It has now a debt of <£ 30,000 or |150,000, which is a source 
of great embarrassment, in addition to the various other causes 
of ill success, which need not be stated in detail here. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 81 

When I was in London, in 1862, all the professors resigned 
their positions, and most of them, I believe, left; one or two, 
only, having been persuaded to hold on, to save the institution 
from utter ruin. It only adds another to the list of instances, 
which might be given, to show that success or failure will depend 
very much upon the man at the head, however great may be 
the incidental advantages which may concur in favor of sucli 
an enterprise. 

A mistake appears to have been made at the outset, by fixing 
the charges too low. It was designed to meet the wants of 
those young men, sous of farmers, who wished to prepare them- 
selves for stewards or bailiffs ; and who could ill afford to pay 
even the £30, which was the amount fixed, including board and 
tuition. Small farmers could not send their sons, and rich ones 
would not. But if an ungovernable lad had been rejected or 
dismissed from other schools, he was pretty sure to turn up 
here, and the consequence was the college got a large proportion 
of all the naughty boys in the kingdom. 

The enterprise was started, at first, as a joint-stock company, 
the stock being taken up by subscription ; and the concern was 
governed, or rather, there was an effort made to govern it, by 
a full board of the subscribers. Such an arrangement, as miglit 
have been anticipated, worked badly ; and after running a 
hundred and twenty -five thousand dollars in debt, with no means 
of paying, a few noblemen came forward to assume the debt and 
the management. They raised the charges and attempted to 
put the establishment on a different basis. 

They do not appear to have remedied the difficulties to any 
great extent; though the institution still lives, with about sixty 
students, now consisting of the sons of the rich. I am indebted 
to various individuals for many facts in regard to the college, 
in addition to my own observations on the spot, and I draw, also, 
from the printed programme that was placed in my hands. 

Objects. — The chief object of this institution is to afford such 
a course of education, as will be most useful to those whose 
destined profession is to connect them with agricnlture, at 
home or in the colonies, whether as owners or occupiers of 
land, land agents or stewards. 
11 



82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The College Buildings. — The college, which adjoins the park 
and woods of Earl Bathurst, is situated on the farm, about a 
mile and a half from the town. The principal front, 190 feet 
long, has a south aspect, and commands an extensive view over 
North Wiltshire. The buildings include a chapel, large dining 
hall, library, museums, lecture rooms, laboratories, class rooms, 
private studies, kitchens and servants' offices ; with apartments 
for resident professors, and ranges of dormitories on the upper 
floors. The whole building is lighted with gas, and furnished 
with ample supplies of water. The best methods of warming 
and ventilation have been adopted. Each student has a sepa- 
rate sleeping apartment, an'd private studies are allotted to the 
meritorious students, as they become vacant. 

The Farm. — The farm, which surrounds the college, contains 
about 500 acres, of which 450 are arable, of a varied soil and 
character. The farm buildings are spacious, and well adapted 
for carrying out the purposes for which the college was founded. 
A steam engine, with improved mechanical arrangements, fur- 
nishes all the power for threshing, grinding, &c. 

Live stock, of various kinds, are bred and reared on the farm. 
Experiments are tried on portions of the various rotations ; and 
where the results are satisfactory, they are carried out on a 
larger scale. A botanical garden, of ample extent, enables the 
professor, under whose charge it is, to instruct practically in 
the botany of agriculture ; and to show to the students various 
experiments in vegetable physiology. 

The Veterinary Hospital., is under the immediate superin- 
tendence of the professor of the department, assisted by a curator 
selected from among the more advanced students. Animals of 
all kinds are received for treatment, so that the studeuts have 
opportunities of witnessing operations and post mortem examina- 
tions. 

Museums. — The college possesses a valuable collection of 
geological specimens, minerals and other objects of natural 
history ; also an interesting set of anatomical and pathological 
preparations — such as casts of teeth, to illustrate the age of the 
horse, sheep and other animals ; and is now provided, by tlie 
gift of Messrs. Peter Lawson & Son, of Edinburgh, with the 
extensive museum of economic botany, prepared by those gen- 
tlemen for the international exhibition of 1862. This collection 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 83 

contains specimen plants of nearly all the varieties of known 
cereals, samples of seed of every species of plants used by the 
agriculturist, and also a series of wax models of every variety 
of cultivated roots. 

Managpment. — The management of the whole, establishment 
of the college is committed to the principal, who is responsible 
to the council for every thing, and superintends and controls 
every department of the college. He attends to the religious 
instruction and moral discipline of every in-student, and exer- 
cises such supervision over the conduct and pursuits of the out- 
students, as the nature of their relations with the college will 
permit. 

Agriculture. — The instruction in agriculture, consisting of 
lectures and practical classes on the farm, is given by the 
professor of practical agriculture, who is also the farm manager, 
residing on the farm, where students have every opportunity 
of becoming acquainted with and taking part in the manual 
operations of husbandry. They thus acquire a practical knowl- 
edge of the management of labor ; of the uses of the different 
implements ; of the application of steam machinery to farming 
purposes ; of the breeding, rearing, feeding and general 
management of all kinds of stock ; and of th.e rotation of crops, 
and their fitness, more or less, for different soils. 

Each student is expected to keep a daily journal of all the 
operations on the farm, and to mal^e himself thoroughly 
acquainted with the accounts. 

Chemistry and Chemical Manipulation. — A w.ell-appointed 
laboratory is devoted to instruction in chemical manipulation 
and analysis, which are taught to each class of students in suc- 
cession, under the superintendence of the professor of chemistry 
and his assistant. 

The students, after studying the properties of the more com- 
monly occurring substances, are made to analyze a series of 
compounds, proceeding from simple to more complex cases ; 
after which they ap|51y the knowledge, thus obtained, to the 
analysis of manures, soils, ashes of plants, farm products and 
other substances more immediately useful to the practical 
agriculturist. 

Analysis of artificial manures, oil-cakes, waters, &c., for 
members of the Royal Agricultural Society, and others, are 



84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

daily performed in the college laboratory, and chemico-agricul- 
tural researches undertaken by the more advanced students, 
under the immediate direction of Dr. A. Voelcker and assistants. 

Geology. — Besides the lectures delivered on geology, the 
students are instructed by accompanying the professor of geol- 
ogy in jEield excursions and geological surveys in the surrounding 
neighborhood. 

Entomology . — Lectures on entomology are delivered weekly, 
and students are encouraged to make collections of insects. 

Botany. — A complete set of lectures on systernatic botany, 
illustrated by a botanical garden, is annually delivered ; and 
the professor of botany conducts botanical excursions weekly, 
during the summer and autumn months. 

Veterinary Medicine and Surgery. — Instruction in this 
department includes a complete system of anatomy and pathol- 
ogy. Pupils are required to note all hospital cases in their 
journals. 

Surveying and Civil Engineering. — In this department is 
embraced instruction in those mathematical subjects, vrliich are 
connected with surveying, engineering, &c. ; regular and 
frequent opportunities being afforded for practical instruction 
in the field in surveying, levelling and land measuring, and in 
the use of the theodolite, spirit level and other instruments. 

Archilectural and Mechanical Drawing. — A certified master, 
from the science and art department of the committee of council 
on education, South Kensington, teaches these subjects. 

Admission. — The principal will furnish the necessary forms for 
the admission of in-students, who are required to be sixteen 
years of age. 

Out-students are admitted to attend the lectures and avail 
themselves of the practical instruction of the institution. Dur- 
ing their pupilage they are amenable to the college regulations, 
under the penalty of forfeiting their fees ; which are also liable 
to be forfeited, in the event of any serious misconduct being 
brought under the notice of the public aifthorities. Except in 
certain cases, out-students are required to be one-and-twenty 
years of age. 

Vacations. — There are two vacations in the year, each 
extending over seven weeks : the commencement of the summer 



SECRETAEY'S REPORT. 85 

one being about the 18th of June, and of the winter one, the 
18th of December. 

Charges. — Per annum, to be paid half-yearly in advance, 
in-students, <£90 ; out-students, .£42. 

There are a few private rooms in the college, appropriated to 
the students' use, for which there is an extra charge of £21. 

These terms include every thing, except medical attendance 
and books. 

A quarter's notice of the intention to remove any student, 
must be given by the parent or guardian to the principal, or a 
quarter's fee will be incurred. Students residing, or having 
their names on the books for any part of a quarter, will be 
charged the fee for the whole quarter. The college quarter 
days are January 6, April 6, July 6, October 6. 

The college diploma or certificate — which admits those holding 
it to the position of graduate, under the title of member — is 
granted only to those who, at their final examination, show 
that they are thoroughly masters of the subjects of the various 
lectures, and are, besides, well acquainted with practical agri- 
culture. Nor is this, or any other certificate, granted to 
students whose conduct has not given entire satisfaction to the 
authorities. The names of the members appear in the pros- 
pectus. 

Copies of a set of examination questions, on the subjects of 
one session or lialf year, are also annexed. As these questions 
are all taken from the lectures and practical instruction 
previously a.ttended by the students examined, they are well 
calculated to show what is taught at the college. 

A scholarship of the value of X40 per annum, and tenable 
during three sessions, is given to the first man in each session. 
Students who enter at the quarter are allowed to compete for 
this, but are required to obtain for success five per cent, more 
marks. 

It happened to be vacation when I arrived, and therefore I 
had not the good fortune to see so much of the practical work- 
ings of the college, as I should have been glad to have seen ; 
still I visited the collections, the lecture rooms, the laboratory 
and the farm, in company with Dr. Voelcker and Prof. Coleman, 



86 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 

the manager of the farm, and saw the whole system adopted, 
as well as could be expected under the circumstances. 

The farm appeared to be under a good state of cultivation. 
All the labor is hired, the regular farm wages being seven shil- 
lings a week, the laborers finding themselves. That is twenty- 
eight cents a day. Good ploughmen get as high as twelve shil- 
lings a week, and in harvest time three shillings a day. 

They had about 500 sheep at the time I was there, but they 
usually winter about 700. They were mostly Cotswolds, and 
looking finely. The farm buildings are of stone, plain and 
substantial. The fattening animals are kept constantly in 
boxes, the best size of which, it is thought there, is 9 feet by 9, 
on account of their treading the manure better in small boxes. 
They consider the Yorkshire pigs the best and most profitable. 
Some of them were immensely fat, having been prepared for 
the Worcester exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society. 

The answer to the question why they got them so fat for that 
purpose, was that others do, and they are obliged to conform to 
the practice or fail, though the manager appeared to disapprove 
of the practice. 

Among the crops were many acres of horse beans. The 
yield is 40 bushels per acre, 56 lbs. to the bushel, and one ton 
of straw. They are sown at the rate of 3 bushels per acre, in 
drills 17 inches apart. They grind them up, and give them to 
horses, sheep, &c. The wheat was at its full growth, and look- 
ing very well. The farm horses are Clydesdales. They are 
large and very useful animals, easily kept in condition, I should 
think they would weigh from 1,200 to 1,400 lbs. There are 
various facilities for work, such as a steam-engine, which does 
a great many kinds of work, like threshing, grinding, winnow- 
ing, &c. There is also a blacksmith shop on the place. 

Experiments were being carried on upon the wheat fields 
upon a pretty large scale. They are of considerable interest 
and importance, but an enumeration of them would lead too 
far. 

The following questions at the final examination for the 
diploma, will indicate the nature of this trial, and at the same 
time the course of instruction which had been pursued : — 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 87 

Practical Agriculture. — First Paper, 

1. Enumerate the crops at present growing on the Eoyal Agricultural 
College Farm, naming that which each field bears, or is being prepared 
for, and the acreage in each crop, as nearly as you can recollect. 

2. Describe the acts of husbandry during the present session, in lots 
Nos. 11, 19, and (3 and 5,) and the objects kept in view in each. 

3. Describe and value the acts of husbandry during the present ses- 
sion in lot No. 8, and their object. State generally the best methods of 
cleaning (1) strong clays, (2) moderately light soils. 

4. Describe (very briefly) the principal implements employed on the 
Royal Agricultural College Farm, and give a catalogue of those which 
would usually be required on a farm of 400 acres of turnip land. 

5. Give an account of the different methods of planting potatoes . 
according to the nature of the soil. Illustrate this from the plan adopted 
in 3 & 5 ; enumerate also the manures used for this crop in that field, 
and their apparent result up to this date. 

6. What are the uses of the different kinds of root crops ? What 
soils, what climates are best adapted to each sort respectively ? Show 
how far one sort of root crop can replace another. What species of 
root will best take the place of an early spring green crop ? 

7. What is the best method of cultivating barley ? How would you 
manage the previous crop, so as to insure a good seed bed ? State the 
quantity of seed, and the soils best suited to this crop. 

8. Write a short essay on parallel drainage, paying attention to — 
(1.) The nature of the soil for which the system is adopted. 
(2.) Depth and frequency of drains. 

(3.) Action of parallel drainage. 

(4.) General cost, and the return that may be expected from it. 

Second Paper. 

1. Explain the principles and use of the liquid manure drill. 

2. What is the use and object of a rotation of crops? Describe a 
three, four, and five-field course, and state to what description of soil 
each is respectively adapted. Give examples when you can from the 
college farm. 

3. At what period (1) of the year, (2) of the rotation, would deep 
ploughing be advisable ? What kinds of soil does it benefit, and when 
should it be avoided ? 

4. Explain the functions of live stock on a farm. What effect has 
turnip husbandry produced on the meat-eating population of this 
country ? 



88 • BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 

5. State briefly a few particulars relating to the breed of short-horned 
cattle, mentioning any remarkable sales or favorite lines of descent of 
the breed. 

6. Of what component parts does milk consist? Shew the use of 
each of them in the dairy. 

7. Describe the general management of the fatting and breeding flock 
during the present session. 

1. Explain the difference in posting a cash and a credit transaction, 
and show how the following transactions would appear in your Journal 
and Ledger : — 

June 10, 1857, Sold Mr, Thos. White 28 qrs. Wheat at oOs. 

Bought 10 qrs. Oats of Mr. Jones, at 26s. and paid for the same. 

Received from the Gloucestershire Banking Company £123 5s. 

Hired Thrashing Machine of Mr. Slatter, 3 days at 25s. 

Inorganic Chemistry. 

1. Mention the preparation and properties of ammonia. 

2. Describe the general properties of ammoniacal salts, and the mode 
of detecting adulterations in sulphate of ammonia. 

3. Mention some manuring matters which owe their efficacy to the 
ammonia they contain. • 

4. How do you ascertain the presence of ammonia in a substance, 
and how do you determine it quantitatively ? 

5. Give a short definition of the following terms : — alkali, base, acid, 
salt, metal, metalloid, neutral, basic, mineral, organic, combination, mix- 
ture, soluble, volatile, and fix. 

6. State in a general way the composition of mountain limestone, 
cornbrash, forest marble, and lias-lime and magnesian limestone, and 
their relative agricultural value. 

7. How much oil of vitriol must be added to 1 ton of bone-ash in 
order to render all the phosphate of lime in it soluble ? 

Composition of commercial bone-ash : — 



Moisture, . . . 


. 6.05 




Organic matter, 


. 1.03 


Equiv. of Ca=28 


Phosphate of lime, 


. 75.84 


" " p =32 


Carbonate of lime. 


. 7.04 


" « S=16 


Sand, 


. 9.88 




Alkaline Salts, . . 


.16 





100.00 

8. How do you detect the presence of alum in bread ? 

9. Describe the preparation and properties of alumina. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 89 

10. A liquid contains soluble phosphate of lime, gypsum, and sulphate 
of ammonia ; how can you recognize these compounds ? 

Organic Chemistry. 

1. Explain the following terms : — decay, fermentation, and putre- 
faction. 

2. In what respects do organic acids differ from mineral acids, alka- 
loids from alkalies ? 

3. Mention the proximate and ultimate constituents of wheat, pota- 
toes, turnips, clover, pease, and cabbage. 

4. State the composition of woody fibre, gun-cotton, starch, milk- 
sugar, lactic acid, and cane-sugar. 

5. What are the changes which organic matters, containing nitrogen, 
undergo during putrefaction ? - 

6. "What is the chemical constitution of fatty matters ? 

7. Describe the preparation and properties of urea. 

8. Mention the adulterations which are sometimes found in milk, and 
the mode of detecting them. 

9. Write a paper on the chemistry of brewing. 

Agricultural Chemistry. 

1. What are the sources from which plants derive their nitrogen and 
carbon ? 

2. When is it desirable to preserve as much as possible the organic 
matter in soils, and when may it be destroyed without injury to the land ? 

3. How do you ascertain the commercial and how the practical value 
of manuring matters ? 

4. What is the composition of blood-manure ? 

5. Describe the preparation and properties of a good super-phosphate, 
and give reasons why it is more economical to buy this manure than to 
prepare it on the farm. 

6. Write a paper on guano, stating the properties and composition of 
good Peruvian and of inferior guano, the adulterations in guano, the mode 
of detecting them, and the crops most benefited by guano. 

7. What is the composition of liquid manure and its agricultural 
value ? 

8. Can sewage economically be converted into a portable manure ? 
Give reasons. 

Anatomy and Physiology. 

1. What general principle should regulate the breeder of stock in the 
selection of animals for that purpose ? 

2. What diseases are likely to be transmitted from parents to off- 
spring ? 

12 



90 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 

Describe the general anatomy of the foot, remarking on the differences 
in the organ of ox, sheep, dog, and pig, as compared with the horse ; 
concluding with a consideration of the principles of shoeing, as appli- 
cable to the colt as well as to the adult horse in active work. 

Pathology. 

Write a description of the disease of diarrhoea occurring in horses, 
oxen, and sheep ; including the subjects of causation ; the elements of 
the disease, symptoms, stages, and results, with the principles on which 
the treatment should be founded ; explaining the variations in practice 
in the several cases of the horse, ox, and sheep. 

Describe the following diseases of the foot : — corn, quittor, foot-rot, 
foul, and canker; pointing out the causes, symptoms, and treatment; 
explaining the consequences of each affection, probable duration, and 
influence on the animal's soundness. 

Geology. 

1. Give an account of the geology of phosphatic deposits, as they 
occur in the different stratified rocks of England. 

2. Describe the English new red sandstone formation, having partic- 
ular reference to the following points : 

I. Its geological and geographical position. 
II. Its subdivisions and their characters. 

III. Its minerals and economic materials. 

IV. Its fossil contents. 

V. The importance of a correct knowledge of this rock 
in a coal diagnosis. 

The spirit of caste so prevalent in England has probably been 
the cause of the faihire of this college to meet the expectations 
of the friends of agriculture, or to commend itself to any con- 
siderable portion of the people. I could not learn that it was 
popular with any class. They are waiting for something to 
" turn up," but in the meantime an enormous debt hangs like 
an incubus upon the college. Its future is therefore doubtful. 

THE ALBERT MODEL FARM, GLASNEVIN. 

The Albert National Agricultural Institution, near Dublin, 
was the first that I visited. I had landed at Queenstown, 
chiefly for the purpose of seeing something of the system 
adopted in these institutions in Ireland, and after visiting Cork 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 91 

and Kerry, which lie on the way, I lost no time in introducing 
myself to Dr. Kirkpatrick, the chief inspector of agricultural 
national schools in that country. His head-quarters are at the 
Albert model farm. Through his kindness I was very soon 
put in the way of whatever information I might need, both in 
regard to the practical working of the school at Glasnevin, and 
the farm on which it is located, and in regard to the system of 
agricultural instruction throughout the country. 

Among other things placed in my hands, was a little hand- 
book of the model farm, by Thomas Baldwin, the lecturer on 
agriculture there, and from this I condense a good many of the 
following facts relating to the buildings, the farm, the crops, 
&c.:— 

This institution was established in 1838 by the Board of 
National Education in Ireland, and is designed to supply such 
instruction in the science and practice of agriculture as will 
qualify young men for becoming farmers, land-stewards and 
teachers of agriculture. 

The institution, which stands upon the farm, is about three 
statute miles from the city of Dublin, and but a short dis- 
tance from the Royal Dublin Society's beautiful botanic gar- 
dens, which are in the immediate vicinity of the village of 
Glasnevin, which has a historic interest from the fact of its 
having been the residence of Addison, Delany, &c. 

The building, which is massive, but without architectural 
beauty, comprises dormitories, dining and school rooms, library 
and laboratory, in addition to apartments for resident officers of 
the institution, and a considerable range of farm offices. 

The ground attached to the Albert institution is appropriated 

as follows : — 

A. E. p. 

For farm purposes, .... 169 1 2 

Gardens and pleasure grounds, . 10 22 

179 1 24 

Two classes of pupils attend this institution, viz. : — 
1st. Externs, or non-resident pupils, who board and lodge at 
their own expense, within reasonable distance of the model farm, 
and who are admitted on the following terms : First, that 



92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

each pays an entrance fee of two guineas ; second, that they 
engage in the ordinary farm work ; third, that they attend the 
lectures punctually ; fourth, that they be amenable to all the 
rules and regulations of the institution. 

2d. Interns, or young men who intend to become land-stew- 
ards or working farmers, and who are boarded, lodged and 
educated at the public expense for a period of two years. 

In June, 1860, the commissioners decided that admission to 
this class shall, in future be obtained by competitive examina- 
tion. 

A candidate is expected to possess the following qualifica- 
tions : — 

1st. A certificate from a clergyman of his religious persua- 
sion, testifying as to his moral character. 

2d. A certificate from a medical man, testifying that he is of 
sound health. 

3d. His age must not be under seventeen. 

When the parents, guardian or patron of a lad decide on 
seeking permission for him to compete, they communicate with 
the secretaries of the Board, who, in reply, furnish a blank form, 
containing a number of queries and forms of certificate, all of 
which must be duly filled, and returned. 

If the applicant is deemed eligible, he is entered on the list 
of candidates for the approaching examination, of the time and 
place of which due notice is given. 

As it has been decided to admit pupils in the beginning of 
January and of June each year, the examinations take place in 
May and December. 

In January, 1861, for example, thirty-four candidates were 
admitted by competitive examination. The mode of conducting 
the examinations was as follows : — 

Seventy-four candidates having been found eligible for com- 
petition, were summoned to attend on a given day and hour at 
the residences of the inspectors of national schools in their 
respective districts. 

The candidates were then subjected to a written and oral 
examination for a fixed time in the following subjects : — 

Pleading. — To read with correctness any passage selected in 
the Fourth Book of Lessons. 

Writing. — To write a legible hand with facility. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 93 

Spelling. — To write from dictation, with correctness any pas- 
sage selected from the Third Book of Lessons. 

Grammar. — To know the parts of speech, and to possess such 
an elementary knowledge of syntax as to be able to parse short 
and easy sentences in prose. 

Geography. — To be able to define the technical terms of 
geography, to know the general outlines of the map of the 
world, and the boundaries, counties, chief towns, rivers, &c., of 
Ireland. 

Arithmetic. — To be able to repeat with accuracy, or write out 
the several arithmetical tables, and to work with facihty and 
accuracy easy questions in the elementary rules, fractions, sim- 
ple proportion and practice. 

Book-keeping. — To be acquainted with the nature and use of 
a cash account. 

Geometry. — To know at least the first book of Euclid. 

The questions and the time allowed for answering them being 
the same in each case, the examination was as strictly competi- 
tive as if the boys were congregated in one room. 

All the papers were transmitted to Dublin, and fifty of the 
best answerers summoned up to Glasnevin, and there subjected 
to a second and more searching examination in the subjects fol- 
lowing : — 

Reading. — As in number one. 

Writing. — Ditto. 

Spelling. — To write from dictation, with correctness, any 
passage selected from the Fourth Book of Lessons. 

Grammar. — To have a fair knowledge of the text of Sulli- 
van's Grammar, and to be able to parse easy sentences in prose 
from the Fourth Book of Lessons. 

Geography. — As in number one, with the general geography 
of Europe. 

Arithmetic. — Reduction, decimals, fractions, simple propor- 
tion and practice. 

Book-keeping. — To be acquainted with sets I. to lY., in the 
Board's book-keeping. 

Geometry. — As in number one. 

Agricultural Chemistry. — Hodge's First Lessons in Agricul- 
tural Chemistry. 



94 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Practical Agriculture. — Introduction to Agricultural Class- 
Book, and chapters XL, XIL, XIIL, of Murphy's Agricultural 
Instructor. 

The business of the institution and farm is conducted by the 
following staff: — 

1. The superintendent, Dr. Kirkpatrick, (who has the entire 
management of the concern,) training and farming departments. 

2. A matron. 

3. An agriculturist, who has charge of the practical manage- 
ment of the farm. 

4. A gardener, who conducts the horticultural department. 

5. A literary teacher. 

In addition to these, there is a staff of non-resident lecturers, 
viz. : on 

1. Animal physiology and pathology, and the treatment of 
the diseases of the domestic amimals. 

2. Botany and vegetable physiology, in their relation to agri- 
culture. 

3. Chemistry and geology, in their relation to agriculture. 

4. Agriculture. 

5. Horticulture. ' 
Each of the officers gives two courses of lectures in the year, 

which is divided into two sessions ; the first session begins 
after Cliristmas and ends in June, and the second ends at 
Christmas. 

At the termination of each session, the lecturers hold exam- 
inations, and award premiums to the most deserving pupils, 
according to the following scale : — 

£ s. d. 

1st. Chemistry, . . . .2 Prizes at 1 10 

Ditto, 2 " 10 0—500 

2d. Botany, 2 " 1 10 

Ditto, . . . . .2 " 10 0—500 

3d. Animal physiology and diseases 

of farm animals, . . . . 2 " 1 10 

Ditto, 2 " 10 0—500 

4th. Horticulture, . . . . 2 " 1 10 

Ditto, 2 " 10 0—500 

5th. Literary subjects, . . . 2 " 1 10 

Ditto, 2 " 10 0—500 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 95 







£ s. 


d. 


^riculture, 


1st Prize, 


3 





Ditto, 


2 Second Prizes, 


. at 2 10 





Ditto, 


3 Third " 


. at 2 





Ditto, 


4 Fourth « 


. at 1 10 





Ditto, 


5 Fifth 


at 1 


0—25 6 




£50 



No pnpil can take more than three prizes* in one- session. 

The course of instruction is said to be more comprehensive 
and complete than that afforded at any similar institution. 

The literary masters teach English grammar, and compo- 
sition, arithmetic, book-keeping, and mathematics, including 
land-surveying, levelling, and mapping. 

The instruction in agriculture embraces all those branches 
which constitute the science of farming, as well as a detailed 
account of the enlightened and improved practices of the day ; 
and in order that the pupils may become thoroughly acquainted 
with improved practical husbandry, they are called upon to 
take part in the performance of every farm operation, and the 
feeding and management of live stock. They have an oppor- 
tunity, too, of practically studying the application of steam 
power to agricultural purposes, as well as the use of a large 
assortment of those modern implements and machines, which 
are found economical substitutes for manual labor. 

The Faems and Gardens. — The soil is a clay loam of a 
brownish color, resting on the calcareous formation ; its maxi- 
mum elevation is 172 feet, minimum, 148 feet ; and tlie greater 
portion of it has a slight inclination to the south. The depth 
of the surface soil averages from eight to twelve inches. 

Dr. Hodges' examination of the soil and subsoil gives the 
following results : — 

Soil. Subsoil. 
On mechanical examination every 100 parts contained 

clay and finely divided matter, . . . . 24.71 28.32 

Sand and small stones, 75.29 71.68t 



100.00 100.00 

* A silver medal is awarded, each session, to the most talented and deserving 
pupil. 

t Consisting of coarse granules of blackish limestone, gray chert, and cal- 
careous sand. 



96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Every 1,000 parts of surface soil retained 688 parts ; of sub- 
soil, 484 parts of water. 

Of the water which the specimens had imbibed, in four hours 
the surface soil lost by evaporation 17.8 ; the subsoil 30.6 per 
cent. 

I. The Large Farm, 145a. 3r. 37p., is divided into four 
sections, on each of which a distinct course of farming is pur- 
sued, as follows : — 

Area. 
a Three Course Rotation, about .... 21 

a Four " " " .... 36 

h Five " " " .... 25 

c New Farm, Wheat, 14 

" Pasturage, . . . 

Yards and Offices, Paddock, &c., occupy the remainder, 



87 -51 



The order of succession of the crops in the three course 
rotation is : — 

1st year, Green crops, manured. 

2d year, Grain, with Italian rye-grass, and clover. 

3d year. Grass, for soiling and hay. 

In the fourth course, usually called the " Norfolk Shift," the 
crops succeed in this order : — 

1st year, Green crops, manured. 

2d year. Grain, with grass seeds, generally Italian rye-grass. 

3d year, Grass, for house-feeding cattle, and hay. 

4th year, Oats. 

The five course on this farm differs from the last in keeping 
the grass field unbroken a second year. The crops, therefore, 
succeed in this order : — 

1st year, Green crops, manured. 

2d year, Grain, with grass seeds. 

3d year. Grass. 

4th year. Grass. 

5th year, Oats. 

The balance-sheet has been satisfactory, showing a credit of 
from two hundred to three hundred pounds a year in favor of 
the pupils' labor. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 97 

II. The Small Farm, 23a. 1r. 5p., was established in 1856, 
for the purpose of affording an illustration of small farm man- 
agement, and to present to the sons of small farmers an example 
which they may imitate. 

The following five course rotation is carried out on this 
farm : — 

1st. Turnips, Mangel Wurzel, and Carrots. 

2d. Potatoes, Winter Beans, and Cabbages. 

3d. Italian rye-grass. 

4th. " " 

6th. Oats. 

The Italian rye-grass is sown in autumn, immediately after 
the harvesting of the potatoes and beans, and a most luxuriant 
crop is thus obtained. This season they had grass three feet 
long, and yielding ten tons per statute acre on this farm early 
in May. Italian rye-grass has been sown on the Albert Farm 
in autumn, after grain ; but though every care has been taken 
to have the ground properly prepared by the use of Bentall's 
broad-share, grubbing, &c., yet the following crop of grass has 
not been quite satisfactory. 

Some are not favorable to two years' growth of Italian rye- 
grass unless where there is an unlimited command of liquid 
manure or frequent top dressings of the artificial manures. 
This grass is a gross feeder ; and when it grows luxuriantly the 
first year, it degenerates in the second, not so much from 
the habits of the grass itself as from want of nutriment in the 
soil. 

'As might be expected, the pecuniary results of the working 
of this farm are more favorable than those of the larger one. 
There is a balance of £70 lis. 5|d. after allowing the sum of 
X42 7s. 8d. (at the rate of <£2 5s. per statute acre,) for the 
pupils' labor. 

III. The Horticultural Department consists of a kitchen 
and a fruit garden, and a small range of glass, including a 
vinery, peach house, and conservatory. On the south side of 
the buildings there is a neatly laid out pleasure-ground. These 
various branches of this department afford to those pupils who 
have a taste for gardening an opportunity of qualifying them- 
selves for discharging the combined duties of steward and 

13 



98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

gardener — duties which, from motives of economy, are now 
frequently imposed on one individual. 

The Farm Buildings. — The visitor generally enters this large 
pile of buildings by an archway on the south side, leading into 
a yard 124 by 93 feet. In the centre of this yard is a solid two- 
story house, stabling and harness-room for six horses occupying 
the north side of the ground floor, the south side being appro- 
priated to carts and implements. The second floor serves as a 
granary and store rooms. When this new range of offices was 
about half erected, the commissioners took advantage of a 
favorable opportunity that presented itself for enlarging the 
farm ; and having to extend the amount of accommodation for 
live stock, they had to alter their plans. For instance, the 
building now occupied as a cattle barn was originally intended 
to serve as a barn and stable, and the interior still bears evi- 
dence of the existence of a division wall. 

The portion of this building appropriated to implements, &c., 
is 13 feet wide by 53 long. There are four paved ways for carts, 
dividing it transversely. The wheels run on cut limestone 
stones embedded in the paving, and having shoulders which 
serve as guides for the wheels. These shoulders or guides are 
five feet apart. 

The stables are 10 feet 6 inches high ; front to back wall is 
15 feet ; the stalls are each six feet wide, so that the cubical 
contents appropriated to each animal is 945 feet, which would 
be rather limited without efficient ventilation. 

The hay rack is beneath the horse's head. It rises 3 feet 3 
inches above the floor, and is 1 foot 6 inches wide. This plan 
is now generally preferred to having the hay over the animals' 
heads. 

The dimensions of the oat manger are 2 feet 2 inches by 1 
foot 6 inches by 1 foot. The partitions consist of wooden boards 
kept fast by metal rails attached to the front wall (7 feet 3 
inches from the ground) and to metal cylindrical posts (at the 
height of 4 feet 6 inches from the floor) which are 9 feet from 
the front wall. Over the animals' heads is a perforated 
sheet of zinc, for permitting the escape of vitiated air. Fresh 
air is admitted through the doors and windows. The upper 
half of the windows is constructed, in the ordinary way, of glass 
panes, and moves upon a pivot. The lower half consists of^two 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 99 

sets of spars, 2| inches wide and 2h inclies apart ; the outer 
being fixed ; the inner slides right and left, so that the admis- 
sion of air is simply regulated by the inner slide. 

The stable doors are 4 feet wide, and like those of the barns, 
slide flush with the wall, on rails ; and to facilitate the move- 
ment, they are provided with castors running on the rails, and 
small wheels on both sides near the top. 

The building facing the east side of the yard is the cattle 
barn, which is capable of accommodating 52 head of cattle. It 
is 98 feet long by 32 wide. There are two rows of cattle facing 
each other, and separated by a feeding passage 6 feet wide- run- 
ning the whole length of the building. This passage is lined 
on either side with cast metal rails or lattice work, which rise 

2 feet above the troughs, and are attached to the cast-iron 
partitions. The space from the feeding passage to the side 
walls is appropriated thus : — Stand (to channel) 8 feet ; chan- 
nel, 14 inches wide (and 4 inches deep) ; passage behind 
animals, 3 feet 10 inches. The stalls are double, i. e., the space 
between each pair of partitions is for two animals. The parti- 
tions in the southern half of the building are 7 feet apart, which 
gives 3 feet 6 inches as the width of each lair. In the northern 
half, generally occupied by the smaller breeds and young stock, 
the partitions are 6 feet apart, which gives each animal a space 

3 feet wide. 

The feeding troughs are made of slate slabs. The side slabs 
incline outwards, particularly the front one. The dimensions 
are — Front, 16 inches ; back, 12 inches ; width at bottom, 12 
inches ; top of front to that of back slab, 21 inches. 

The channels behind the animals have been constructed in a 
very substantial manner. Perforated cast-iron plates cover a 
conduit of granite, semi-circular at the bottom, and having 
several openings communicating with a very copious liquid 
manure tank. When it is desirable to remove any sediment 
that may collect in the conduit, the cast-iron plates are removed. 
The feeding and other passages are paved with granite. The 
cattle floors on one side of the barn are paved with brick, hav- 
ing a fall of an inch and a half; on the other side the flooring 
consists of wooden spars nine inches wide and separated by one- 
inch interstices. About sis inches beneath these spars is a solid 



100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

floor of flags set in mortar, with a considerable fall towards one 
point, or sink for carrying off the urine. 

The barn is well ventilated by large Louvre ventilators placed 
in the ridge of the roof. Fresh air is admitted, and particularly 
about the cows' heads, by the following contrivance : Under 
the feeding passage is a channel communicathig with the 
external air at two points — at the south end wall, and at the 
open shed facing the stack-yard, and in which the root washer 
is fixed. This underground air channel has several branches 
rising to the surface of the feeding passage, and which are 
covered with perforated pieces of metal. Fresh air rises 
through these openings when the slide in the south end of the 
house is lifted. 

At the rear of the barn is the manure yard. The site imme- 
diately occupied with manure is 86 by 53 feet ; and between 
the manure heap and the barn is the receptacle for liquid 
manure. This consists of a large tank divided by a partition 
into two compartments, each 40 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 9 
feet high to the spring of the arch. One compartment receives 
the urine from stables, barn, calf-pens, and piggeries ; the other 
receives the liquid from the urinals, water-closets, wash-rooms, 
&c. 

The bottom and sides of this tank were built of brick, lined 
with two coats of Portland cement ; and a strong brick arch 
covers it. 

A wooden shed, roofed with felt, has been erected against the 
east wall of the manure court to accommodate young stock. 
The length of the stands (8 feet) is the same as in the large 
barn already described. This shed is 63 feet long and 12i feet 
wide. 

The piggeries are placed on the north side of the manure 
yard. There are six sties with a southern aspect, each 10 feet 
6 inches by 7 feet, with yards 16 feet by 7 feet. Torr's patent 
troughs are used. They are rather expensive ; but the .princi- 
ple, (which is a good one,) can be easily applied in the case of 
ordinary troughs. 

Piggery No. 2, placed in the middle of the range, and at 
right angles to the others, is arranged precisely like the calf- 
pens. There is a central passage 5 feet wide, on each side of 
which are eight pens or sties, each being 6 feet by 6 feet 9 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 101 

inches. The sparred flooring was introduced in this house with 
more success than in the barn, the spars being 8 inches wide 
and I of an inch apart: but litter cannot altogether be dis- 
pensed with. Some look upon this mode of housing pigs as 
objectionable, and at variance with that well-known instinct of 
the pig which induces it to keep its lair free fom its dung. 
At Glasnevin, pigs thrive very well in this piggery, particularly 
fattening pigs. 

Over one side of this piggery mixed breeds of poultry are 
kept ; the heat evolved from the pigs keeps up the proper tem- 
perature in winter. On the other hand, this arrangement was 
objected to on the ground that the air, which is occasionally 
unavoidably unpleasant, would be prejudicial to the health of 
the poultry, but experience has shown this not to be the case, 
which, however, may be attributed to the effective ventilation 
of the house. 

A covered stair or passage rises from the manure yard on the 
one side, and from the stack-yard on the other, by means of 
which the poultry ascend or descend at pleasure. Strange fowls 
require a little training to induce them to reach their roosting 
and laying apartments, but it is interesting to witness how 
soon they become accustomed to their ascents and descents. 

Immediately adjoining the piggeries is the calf-house, 21 feet 
2 inches by 11 feet 8 inches, apportioned as follows : Passage, 
5 feet wide, dividing six pens into two rows ; each pen is 8 feet 
2 inches long by 3 feet 9 inches wide. In an angle of each pen 
is a small rack for hay. 

After inspecting the calf-pens, the visitor next passes along 
the open passage north of the barn and leading to the steaming 
shed, which is 44 feet by 16 feet. The feeding passage in the 
barn faces the doorway of this apartment. Metal vats were 
also used ; but having lasted four years, they have been 
replaced by two fixed wooden ones, for preparing linseed, bar- 
ley, bean, or oatmeal gruel, and a galvanized metal one, which 
turns on pivots, and is used for steaming roots. The latter is 
placed over a sunk trough, in which the steamed ingredients 
are mixed. This trough is 9 feet long, 3 feet 6 inches wide, 
and two feet deep, and is lined with cement. The wooden vats 
are 2 feet 9 inches diameter and 3 feet 4 inches deep. The 
metal one is about the same size. In one corner of this shed is 



102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

a larger wooden trough, in which alternate layers of cut straw, 
roots, bean-meal, and oil cake are steamed for the milch cows 
in winter. It is 13 feet 3 inches long 5 feet 4 inches wide, and 
3 feet high. A perforated pipe, communicating with the boiler, 
is laid on the bottom, and by turning a cock, the steam ascends 
through the mass and " cooks " it. At an elevation of nine feet 
tliere is a pipe perforated on the lower side, in communication 
with the water cistern, and by which an artificial shower can be 
made to fall on the surface of the steaming mess, and the 
ascending steam is thus condensed, and its escape prevented. 
Damaged hay, &c., is' rendered agreeable to the cattle by this 
process. Bean straw, when steamed, is also readily eaten by 
cattle. 

Turnip cutters are placed in this shed. There is a double- 
action machine for cattle and sheep. This is an excellent 
machine. A pulping machine is also used, and works very 
efficiently. It consists of a number of teeth arranged spirally 
around a cylinder, revolving on its horizontally-placed axis. 
The teeth pass between a revolving spiral, which prevents the 
machine from choking. A shaft, driven by the steam-engine, 
runs througli the steaming shed, and if the engine is at work 
there is a piece of machinery partly at work in this shed, and 
partly in the open shed adjoining it, and facing the stack-yard. 
In this latter shed is a root-washer made of wood, and consist- 
ing of a frame containing water, in which revolves a skeleton 
cylinder, or, more strictly speaking, the frustrum of a cone, the 
taper being scarcely precipitate. At one end the roots are put 
into the cylinder, and an Archimedian screw at the other end 
raises and throws them on an inclined plane, whence they fall 
on the elevator, (formed of curved bars fixed to a leather belt 
kept revolving,) and which carries tliem to the steam-driven 
root-cutter. The cut slices fall into a wooden trough beneath 
the cutting machine in' the steaming shed. 

The next apartment is the chaff-cutting room, thirty feet by 
sixteen. Here is an oil-cake bruiser, an oat bruiser and a 
straw-cutter. Of straw-cutters there is a great variety ; some 
cutting continuously, others giving an intermittent cut; some 
having knives attached to a disc or wheel, revolving in a vertical 
plane ; in others the knives are attached to a revolving cylinder, 
and others again have the cutting blade oscillating vertically. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 103 

The revolving cylinder is preferred by some of the most compe- 
tent judges. 

Leaving this room, we pass on to the barn, the gable end of 
which faces the stables. 

The ground floor of this building consists of: (1) mill room, 
(2) steam-engine room, (3) corn barn, or room for storing, &c., 
and which is 41^ by 21-^- feet. On the second floor, 14 feet 
from the first, are— (1) the threshing room (same dimensions 
as corn room ;) (2) dressing room, 21 feet 6 inches by 17 feet 
9 inches, containing two fixed winnowing machines. This 
apartment is over the engine and mill rooms. As the grain 
leaves the last fanners it enters an opening, descending to 
within a few feet of the ground floor, and is received into bags. 
So that, from the time of putting the sheaf into the threshing 
machine till it is bagged, there is no intermediate manual labor. 
The hopper of the mill is in the corner of this apartment, so 
that the grain is easily transferred thither when required. 

The steam-engine is eight horse power, but capable of being 
worked to ten. It is a high pressure engine, and has a vertical 
cylinder with an eccentric for pumping water into the boiler, 
the whole being firmly fixed on a solid floor of granite. The 
crank attached to the piston turns an axle, on which, at a few 
inches from the crank, a fly-wheel weighing one ton is attached, 
and which passes through the wall into the " corn " room, 
where motion is obtained from a double pulley on this axle, by 
means of belts. One belt is carried up to the threshing floor, 
for communicating motion to the threshing and winnowing 
machines. Another belt runs flush with this wall to another 
pulley, attached to an axle going through the same wall, for 
driving a " bevelled " wheel, which communicates motion to 
two shafts, passing in opposite directions — one to the chaff room 
and steam shed, the other running up to the liquid manure 
propeller and dairy. The threshing mill is on the Scotch prin- 
ciple, and absorbs four horse power. It has a covered drum 
with projecting edges as beaters. There is only one shaker, 
consisting of a revolving cylinder carrying spikes. The straw 
falls on an inclined plane, and is stored in an adjoining covered 
shed, opening to the east. 

The threshed grain falls down to the first winnowing machine, 
which blows the chaff into a small apartment adjoining the straw 



104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

shed. The grain falls out on the right side, and is elevated 
through a wooden tube (elevator) by a series of tin cups attached 
to a leather belt kept revolving while the mill is at work. The 
grain falls from this elevator into the second winnowing machine, 
and then into the third in the dressing room. Any unthreshed 
ears of grain that may have passed through the mill, fall to the 
left of the first winnowing machine, and by another elevator 
are brought up, and falling on the grain on the feeding board, 
are passed through the mill again and again. 

A governor acts on a piece of sheet iron in the side opening 
of the fanners. When the speed of the fanners is fast, this piece 
of metal closes in, and thus diminishes the blast ; when the 
speed is slow, it opens out and presents no obstruction to the 
ingress of the air. 

The three fixed fanners described turn out the grain pretty 
clean ; but for seed and other special purposes, Hornsby's admi- 
rable fanners have been recently purchased. This machine 
seems all that is to be desired. The dimensions are — length, 
5 feet 4 inches ; width, 2 feet 6 inches ; height, 4 feet 3 inches ; 
do. to top of hopper, 5 feet 6 inches. So far there has been no 
occasion to work the toothed cylinder, kept revolving amongst 
the descending grain, which forms so novel a feature in this 
machine. • 

Over the boiler is a kiln for preparing grain, &c., for the 
mill. The grain is introduced into the kiln, from the barn loft, 
through a sluice in the wall ; and when kiln-dried it is removed 
into a sack in the corn room, through another sluice. The kiln 
consists of thirty plates, and seven malleable iron " wheeps " ; 
the cost of which, including fitting, was XIO 55. 

The stack-yard is a spacious area, walled in. Metal stands 
are used for the stacks. The pillars are cast-iron, and covered 
with caps, the convex side downwards. The horizontal bars 
are made of wrought iron or wood. 

The liquid manure propellers are worked by the engine. 
This piece of machinery is placed in a small apartment, over 
which is the water cistern for supplying the boiler, taps in barn, 
cock in cooking shed, &c. There are two pistons, each four 
inches diameter and two feet stroke. It was estimated to 
distribute 4,500 gallons per hour ; but in practice it never dis- 
charges more than 3,000 gallons in that time. The price of 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 105 

pump and belts, and fitting up, was £61 Is. The cistern, which 
is capable of holding 1,350 gallons, cost <£38 13s. lOd. 

The dairy has attracted a great deal of attention. The first 
feature that merits notice is the open shed, facing the yard, for 
airing the milk vessels, &c. It is 11 feet 6 inches long, and 11 
feet 6 inches wide. A dairy usually contains three apartments : 
(1) kitchen, (2) churning room and (3) milk room; and if 
cheese be manufactured, an additional apartment is required. 

Here the churning and butter dressing are performed in the 
dairy kitchen, which is kept most scrupulously clean. It is 17 
feet by 14 feet 9 inches. It has a granite trough for washing 
vessels, supplied with hot and cold water cocks. The butter is 
dressed in a trough of polished slate flags, to the left as you 
enter. Its dimensions are — 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 4 inches 
deep. By turning the cock immediately over it, we have a 
supply of cold water ; by lifting a tap in the bottom, this water 
escapes. 

When the engine is at work, churning can be done by steam. 
The churn is placed in front of the cone, in this kitchen ; and 
its axes being fixed in the cone, the churning proceeds. The 
extra expense for churning gear (viz., 34 feet of 2-inch shafting, 
4 brackets, 5 pillow blocks, 9 bolts for brackets and pillow 
blocks; 1 shaft, 13i feet long and li inch diameter, in dairy; 
fast and loose pulleys, cone, fitting up, &c.) was £S7, 9s. 

Rowan's registered churn has long been used at Glasnevin, 
with most satisfactory results ; and is the one generally used, 
though there are others of different constructions. 

The milk room is 50 feet long and seventeen feet wide.* It 
is divided into two compartments by a transverse wall, having 
a large arched opening. There is a great variety of milk vessels : 
White earthenware, which is easily cleaned, but liable to be 
broken in the hands of careless servants ; glazed earthenware, 
which is cheap and easily cleaned ; glass, which for sweetness 
and cleanliness cannot be surpassed, but is too fragile and con- 
sequently too expensive ; enamelled metal, which is all that 
could be desired, if the enamelling were only proof against the 
effects of hot water ; zinc, which by some is considered objec- 
tionable on account of lactate of zinc being produced ; and 

* Height to the ceiling, 9 feet 10 inches. 
14 



106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

galvanized iron, which is admirable. All these vessels are 
shallow, the milk being about three inches deep. 

The milk stands consist of light skeleton metal frames, across 
which are laid two polished slate slabs ; the first tier being 1 
foot 6 inches from the floor ; the upper, three feet ; the width 
is 1 foot 4 inches. The windows (4 feet 9 inches high, by B 
feet 10 inches wide) are very complete, consisting of three 
distinct parts, each movable up and down by means of cords and 
pulleys. (1) Externally is a solid shutter of wood ; (2) in the 
middle is an ordinary glazed window ; and (3) inside these is a 
close cocoa-nut screen, which serves in summer the double pur- 
pose of excluding flies and keeping the apartment cool. By 
sponging it with cold water, in excessively warm weather, the 
evaporation reduces the temperature down to a moderate degree. 

It takes from half an hour to an hour to churn with Rowan's 
churn. Butter produced in less than half an hour is too soft, 
and when the churning exceeds an hour the quality is seldom 
good. On on average it takes about ten quarts of milk to pro- 
duce one quart of cream, or one pound of butter. It is found 
that about the same quantity of butter is produced, whether 
the whole milk or cream is churned. The average return from 
each of the twenty-six milch cows at the Albert Farm, for tlie 
twelve months ending 31st March, 1858, was £18, exclusive of 
the milk consumed by pigs and young stock. 

There is a select agricultural library for the use of the pupils ; 
a laboratory ; and an extensive collection of minerals, dried 
plants and diagrams to illustrate the various lectures. 

In addition to the machinery already described, there is a 
large and eflective bone mill, worked by steam power. 

The implements consist of ploughs, rollers, grubbers, the 
zigzag harrow, seed sowers, horse hoes and horse rakes, all of 
the most improved pattern. 

The crops are chiefly wheat, barley, oats, mangel wurzel, 
Swedish turnips, potatoes, beans, carrots and Italian rye grass. 

Model and other agricultural schools form a part of the system 
of agricultural education, established in Ireland by the commis- 
sioners of national education, which comprise several distinct 
classes of agricultural schools. 

1. Tlie Albert, or central institution, Glasnevin, which, 
besides being the centre of life and action to the entire scheme, 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 107 

serves as a departmental section of the training establishment 
of the national board. Nearly 200 male national school teachers, 
who come up to Dublin annually for " training," are instructed 
in the leading scientific and practical facts of modern husbandry. 

2. A class denominated " Model Agricultural Schools," which 
are either in connexion with district model literary schools, or 
specially established as an intermediate grade between the 
Albert institution and the smaller agricultural schools to be 
presently referred to. Of this class there were, in 1860 : — 

Twenty under the exclusive management of the national 
board, and eighteen under the management of local patrons, 
landlords, &c. 

3. A number of small, called " ordinary agricultural schools," 
and which, like the model agricultural schools, are scattered 
throughout the provinces. Of these there were forty-seven in 
operation in 1859. 

4. Workhouse agricultural schools : of these there were fifty- 
eight in 1859. 

The agricultural education afforded in the workhouses con- 
sists of a certain amount of instruction, calculated to make the 
boys skilled in the execution of their future labors ; and to 
raise their thoughts to a correct knowledge of the raw materials 
on which they will have to operate, and to the best and most 
economical ways of tilling the land and of disposing of its 
produce. 

A certain amount of theoretic and practical knowledge is 
imparted in the school-room, which the boys reduce to practice 
on the piece of ground attached to the workhouse, under the 
direction of a competent agriculturist. 

It is needless to argue that such a course of training as is 
afforded in those workhouse national agricultural schools must 
promote the interests of the nation at large. It has vastly 
benefited the poor themselves who have received it ; it has ben- 
efited the rich by increasing the supply of skilled labor ; it has 
benefited the tax-payers by diminishing the rates ; and it has 
materially contributed to the harmony, peace, and prosperity 
of the country, by promoting habits of industry and that spirit 
of self-reliance which is the most efficacious preventive of crime. 
The payments made by the national board on account of this 
class of schools in 1859 amounted to £363 15s., or about £Q 



108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

5s. per school. In forty-six of those schools, (whose returns 
have been published) one thousand seven hundred and eleven 
boys received the agricultural education above described, at an 
average cost of 3s. 4d. per boy. 

Ordinary agricultural schools, as the name indicates, consist 
of ordinary national schools having a few acres of ground 
attached to each. In these schools the sons of farmers, labor- 
ers, and such others as may desire it, receive, in addition to the 
ordinary literary education, elementary instruction in the 
science and practice of agriculture. The little farms are, for 
the most part, worked by the boys. The teacher of a school of 
this class receives, in addition to his literary class salary, X5 a 
year and the profits of the farm. 

The forty-seven ordinary agricultural schools in operation in 
1859 cost X269 Is. 2d,, or about <£5 15s. per school. In forty 
of those whose returns have been published, one thousand three 
hundred and seventy-five boys received agricultural instruction 
at a cost of 3s. 4d. per boy per ainium.* No money expended 
by the state could be productive of more benefit than the small 
sum expended on teaching those young lads — the rising small- 
farmers and laborers of Ireland — correct notions of the art by 
which they must earn their bread ; — the art which is the staple 
industry of their country. 

The outlay on " ordinary " agricultural schools is so trivial 
compared with the immense advantages derived therefrom, 
that, like the cost of agricultural education in workhouses, it 
may reasonably be doubted if any would object to it. When 
the commissioners of national education engrafted agricultural 
instruction on the ordinary secular instruction in some of their 
country schools, they observed that: — "Considering the very 
backward state of agriculture in Ireland, and that it forms the 

* In the English agricultural and other industrial schools, the committee of 
council on education allow 5s. for each industrial scholar when a special 
industrial instructor is employed, and 2s. 6d. when the ordinary teacher con- 
ducts the industrial department. In addition to this allowance a grant is made 
to each industrial school equal to half the rent of the premises specially hired 
for the purpose, and one-third the cost for t6ols or raw materials for labor. 

In certified industrial schools for vagrants, the sum of 6d. per day, up to a 
maximum sum of £7 10s. per annum, has been allowed from the education 
grant for every child received under magisterial sentence. — Vide Parliamentary 
Estimate, 1861-2. IV. 131. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 109 

only source of employment for avast portion of the laboring 
poor, we think it particularly desirable that a better knowledge 
of it should be promoted by means of the schools under us." 

Acting upon this principle, the commissioners encouraged, 
in every possible way, the teaching of agriculture in their 
country schools. For a long time they preferred employing 
the funds placed at their disposal in making small grants to a 
large number of schools to establishing a few costly model 
farms, believing that " the chief good that can be effected by 
the national board in the way of agricultural improvement is 
by blending, in as many national schools as possible, instruction 
in agriculture, and daily occupation in agriculture, with the 
literary instruction already given in those schools." 

Concurrently with the introduction by the commissioners of 
agricultural instruction, on this inexpensive scale, into their 
country schools, many of the landed gentry took an active part 
in promoting the establishment of a class of agricultural schools 
on a more extensive scale than those previously existing. 
They deemed it all important that provision should be made 
for agricultural boarders, who, by a regular course of appren- 
ticeship, would study the theory and the art of farming in a 
detailed and systematic manner, and who would, in after life, 
become intelligent farmers, land-stewards and agriculturists; 
in which capacities .it was expected that they would amply 
reimburse the country for the outlay. 

In this way arose the model agricultural schools, whose aim 
is higher and whose cost is greater than that of ordinary 
agricultural schools. 

Of the model agricultural schools there are, as already 
mentioned, two classes : — 

(1.) Those under the management of local patrons, who in 
most cases have erected the farm offices, and, in some cases, 
contributed the agricultural plant. With one or two excep- 
tions, the teachers rent the farms from the patrons. The aid 
given by the board towards the maintenance of this class of 
schools consists of grants of agricultural books, and an allow- 
ance to the teachers for agricultural instruction and for the 
maintenance of boarding agricultural pupils. 

The number of pupils educated in those schools in 1859 was — 



110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Agricultural boarders, .... 62 
Agricultural day pupils, .... 607 

Total, . . . . . .669 

(2.) Model agricultural schools under the exclusive manage- 
ment of the board. — The farms attached to these schools are 
rented by the commissioners ; the farm buildings were erected 
by them — aided in some cases by local contributions — and, 
with some exceptions, the farms are cultivated for and at the 
risk of the commissioners, by agriculturists, who are also 
charged with giving agricultural instruction in the schools. 

The number of pupils educated in 1859 was — 

Agricultural boarders, .... 154 
Agricultural day pupils, .... 538 

Total, 692 

Two classes of agricultural boarders are admitted to these 
schools, namely , pai/ing- and free. 

Paying pupils are submitted to a qualifying examination in 
the subjoined programme, so that none should enter with an 
education so deficient, that they could not fully benefit by the 
instruction afforded. 

The free places are obtained by competitive examination in 
the same programme,* and such additional subjects as the can- 
didate may be prepared in. 

The cost to the pupils on these farms is from thirty to forty 
dollars a year only, for those who pay. 

* Programme of examination for candidates for admission to model agricul- 
tural schools : — 

To know notation and numeration well, and to repeat all the more useful 
arithmetical tables. To work readily questions in the simple and compound 
rules of arithmetic. To distinguish readily, and with certainty, in any easy 
sentences selected from the daily lessons, all the parts of speech. To know 
the maps of the world and Europe. To write on paper a fair hand. To 
know and to be able to write down the characters or marks used in punctua- 
tion. To write down correctly easy sentences from dictation. To write out 
from memory the time and money tables. To read and spell correctly the 
words of an easy lesson, and to explain the meaning. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



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112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

The course of instruction comprises : — 

1st. A sound English education, including reading, writing, 
grammar, and composition, geography, history, arithmetic, 
book-keeping, the elements of geometry and algebra, and land 
surveying. 

2d. In the agricultural department — The elements of agri- 
cultural chemistry and of animal and vegetable physiology ; 
drainage ; tillage by manual and horse labor, with the descrip- 
tion and use of the different implements necessary ; rotation of 
crops ; preparation of the soil for, time and mode of sowing, 
after-culture, harvesting and economizing the different crops 
cultivated ; the best modes of collecting and preserving 
manures, with the nature and utility of stimulants and special 
manures, the crops to which they should be applied, at what 
time, and in what quantity ; the breeding, rearing, house-feed- 
ing, and general management of the different kinds of live 
stock ; and the mode of keeping farm accounts, &c. 

The school farms are managed by men who were trained at 
the Glasnevin establishment, and who are expected to carry out 
the most approved and economical modes of farming. They 
are provided with improved farm implements, approved seeds 
and manures. The live stock is, in many cases, of pure blood, 
and, in some cases, pure-bred sires are kept partly for home 
use, and partly for the improvement of the stock in the sur- 
rounding country. 

The farm offices are also arranged on approved principles, 
and substai^tially built. 

It will be seen, from what has been said, that agricultural 
instruction forms a prominent part of the system of national 
education, — that this instruction is comparatively open and free 
to all who are prepared by an ability to pass a reasonable exam- 
ination, — the cost being so low, as to bring its advantages within 
the reach of all classes. There are one hundred and thirty-four 
of these branch schools where agriculture is taught. 

The Albert Model Farm and Institution, which stands at the 
head of the whole system, is worthy of the name it bears. The 
land of this farm is hired at four pounds, or twenty dollars, the 
statute acre a year rent, on a lease of nine hundred and ninety- 
nine years. Here the boys do all the work, — a man being hired 
now and then, as an exception, for some special employment. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 113 

The pupils range from seventeen to twenty-two years of age. 
They prefer that they would not enter under twenty. The land 
is rich and under a high state of cultivation, as it ought to be, 
to enable the institution to pay so high a rent. 

Every thing abo'ut the farm-buildings is plain and substantial. 
The whole establishment, in fact, has an air of practical work. 
The dining-room is hung with the drawings and lithographs of 
prize animals. One end of it is used for a collection of imple- 
ments, seeds, minerals, &c., — all labelled. The school-room is 
furnished with plain, hard seats, vastly inferior in ease and 
comfort to those in any of our improved school-rooms ; and 
hung with charts, maps, &c. It has various kinds of apparatus, 
thermometer, barometer ; rain-gauge, on the outside of the 
window, &c. ; globes, celestial and terrestrial, &c. The chemi- 
cal laboratory is small and ill-supplied, compared with the same 
in most of the large schools on the continent, but probably suffi- 
cient for the limited instruction in this department. 

The farm does not wholly support the institution. It would 
be unreasonable to expect it, with the high rent it has to pay, 
and the small amount required of the pupils, which covers 
board, washing, tuition, &c. . I was told, the additional cost per 
pupil to the government was twenty-four pounds a year. But 
the farm itself, not charging it with the labor of the boys, shows 
a considerable balance in its favor. 

The stock kept on both farms is, usually, seven horses, about 
fifty cows and young stock, two bulls, from forty to sixty sheep, 
and forty to fifty swine. The cows are mostly grade Shorthorns. 
There were two pure Ayrshires and one Kerry. They find that 
nothing exceeds a three-quarters Shorthorn for profit, when the 
product in milk and the economy of fattening afterwards is 
considered. From a three-quarters Shorthorn and one-quarter 
Irish cow, they get large yields. The bulls are worked in the 
fields, and this is thought to improve them. The pigs are 
Yorkshires and Berkshires. They are washed about once a 
week. The Berkshires are the most hardy, and can endure 
considerable rough usage ; while the Yorkshires are a little 
tender, and are not so good nurses. 

The price of ordinary dairy cows in this neighborhood is from 
twelve to fifteen pounds, or from sixty to seventy-five dollars ; 
15 



114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

but first-class cows for the dairy bring from eighteen to twenty 
pounds. 

Vetches are sown in September, at the rate of two and a half 
bushels of seed to the acre. With us, they thought, it would 
be necessary to sow in April or May, and to sow about half a 
bushel of beans or oats with them, as a support to the stalk. 
They feed this crop out green for soiling. Sixteen varieties of 
Swedes are cultivated on two acres ; and they say that none are 
better than Skirving's Improved, — the only objection to it being 
its bottle-neck. The Leicester Swede is exceedingly good. The 
best for the table is Laing's. 

The flower-gardens and shrubbery about the house are kept 
in superb order ; and, when I was there, every thing was loaded 
with luxuriant foliage and teeming with fragrant blossoms. 
Mrs. Kirkpatrick — to whom I was indebted for a great deal of 
civility — took great delight in showing this part of the establish- 
ment ; much of it, no doubt, due to her good taste and skill in 
planning and directing. 

This statement with regard to some of the principal agricul- 
tural schools in Europe might be considerably enlarged, but the- 
practice and instruction in the others are so similar to those that 
have been given, that it is believed a pretty good general idea 
of them all may be derived from the foregoing pages. It has 
been seen, that a large and influential class of scientific men are 
devoting their lives to pursuits connected with this important 
branch of human knowledge ; some of them in institutions 
designed expressly for this instruction, isolated and independ- 
ent ; others in connection with other institutions, old and long 
established. 

It can hardly be denied, that it is an important incidental 
advantage to any country, resulting from the organization of 
agricultural institutions, that it creates a class of men who 
devote their higher intelligence and their entire lives to investi- 
gations designed to promote the advancement of science in its 
relations to practice. The constant contact with men learned in 
the other professions and sciences ; the means of experiment and 
study at their disposal in a college for professional instruction, 
— like that at Hohenheim, for instance, — are eminently suited 
to form and develop those choice intellects which add to the 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 115 

glory of a country and the pride of the people. Well, indeed, 
has Hohenheim paid its debt in this respect ; for, since its 
foundation, many scientific professors of distinction have spread 
throughout Germany and the world, the valuable practical 
knowledge acquired or taught by them at that royal institute. 

The circumstances in which the European agricultural 
schools have grown up, and th'e state of society, are so different 
from our own, that it does not follow, that what would be best 
for them and for the condition of society which feeds them, 
w^ould be best for us. I am inclined to think the system 
adopted at Glasnevin, at the Albert Model Farm, is better 
adapted to meet the wants of the present time and the present 
condition of things in Ireland, than a scientific institute connected 
with the University of Dublin, or with any other, would be. 

Nor do I think that any impartial observer can fail to see, 
that had the agricultural college of Cirencester been connected 
with one of the universities, Cambridge or Oxford, it would be 
more likely to accomplish the ends which it now proposes to 
itself, would possess greater vitality, and receive a far more 
liberal patronage from the class of p#ople it now aims to edu- 
cate, than it does, or is likely to, in any time to CQme. It 
would have been able to secure and retain the highest scientific 
talent ; while the farm which is now used simply as a model for 
illustration, on which the students do not work, would have 
been equally valuable and important on the downs of Oxford- 
shire or on the fens of Cambridge. 

In Germany, where the experience has been longer than in 
any other part of Europe, the question of connecting agricul- 
tural institutes with others, or of having isolated and independ- 
ent establishments, has long been agitated, and is now more 
warmly discussed than ever before ; one party — and it is proba- 
bly by far the larger — taking the ground for, and the other 
against such union ; each governed, in a measure, no doubt, 
by personal experience in the one or the other system. 

So far as I was able to inform myself, the ground taken by 
the advocates of a union with the universities is, that it is better 
for a young man setting out to procure a liberal education 
in agriculture, to lay the foundation in a thorough knowledge 
of general principles embodied in the wide range of sciences 
which bear more or less directly upon agriculture, and then to 



116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

devote himself to the application of those principles hy prac- 
tical labor on a suitable farm or farms for one or more years, 
or till he becomes efficient in the manipulations. This course 
will be seen, on reflection, to be closely analogous to our 
present most approved modes of acquiring a thorough knowl- 
edge of law, medicine and divinity. 

Suppose a young man wants to become a lawyer. Is it 
better to go first into the office of some successful man in large 
practice, where he must fall at once into the routine of office 
work, filling out forms, copying writs, looking up titles, and a 
thousand other details, or to study a year or two at a law 
school, under the guidance and instruction of the highest lights 
in the profession, where he will see little of the details of prac- 
tice, to be sure, but where he can hardly fail, if he has any 
application at all, to obtain a widely extended general view of 
the great principles which underlie the whole structure of the 
profession, and where he can occupy himself " in tracing out 
the originals, and, as it were, the elements of the law," and 
afterwards go into an office and become familiar with the routine 
of practice ? * 

Some would answer in one way, no doubt, and others in 
another. Some might regard the time at the law school as 
comparatively thrown away; others would esteem it as of the 
utmost importance. The latter would justify it by saying that 
the broad groundwork of general principles which the school 
would give the young man, would be of untold value in all the 
emergencies of after practice, while, ten chances to one, if he 
began with the details of practice, he would never rise to gen- 
eral principles. In the former case, after becoming familiar 
with general principles, a familiarity with practice must be 
obtained, as a matter of course, as every thing depends upon it. 

It would be unfair, I think, to assert that the advocates of 
university teaching in Germany undervalue practice. If I 
understand their position, it is that the union of the highest 
education in the sciences and in the practice, is incompatible 
at the same time and in the same school, and they advise the 
pupil to begin at the fountain head and become well grounded 
m the scientific principles, and then to go on to a farm under 
a competent, practical man, and learn the details of farm 
management. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 117 

If this is a correct statement of their position, the idea of 
commencing in a lower grade school with the intention of going 
up into the higher scientific institute afterwards, as a sort of 
finishing off of their education, is equally impracticable ; that is, 
according to them, it would be beginning at the wrong end. 
"Whether they are correct or not, it is not for me to say ; but I 
give it as the result of their long experience, and of their 
thought and observation upon the subject, and as such worthy 
of careful consideration in establishing similar institutions 
with us. 

I do not know that it would serve any good purpose to enter 
at length into a development of the controversy now going on 
in Germany upon this question, owing to the fact, already inti- 
mated, that the state of society is so different, the lines of caste 
there so nicely drawn, and the objects proposed in an agricultural 
education so distinct from our own. But it may be remarked 
that Liebig has taken the ground very strenuously in favor of a 
connection with the universities, and that a great majority of 
the agricultuinsts adopt that view, or take a middle ground, 
that the location should be in the immediate vicinity of some 
established university, partly as a means of bringing the 
students under university laws, and partly as a means of giving 
the professors a higher position in the estimation of their 
pupils, and of availing themselves of the advantages of the 
collections, libraries, <fec., which a university can offer, as well 
as of the talent of university professors. Volumes have been 
written upon the subject. 

Tlie question in favor of the universities has been fully stated 
in a work of 200 pages octavo, by Dr. Birnbaum of the Uni- 
versity of Giessen, entitled The Universities and Isolated Agri- 
cultural Institutes, Giessen, 1862. He sums up in the following 
propositions : — 

(1.) The simultaneous application of the practical skill 
requisite for management and the theoretical knowledge neces- 
sary for understanding the business, is inadmissible, and for 
teachers and pupils alike impracticable. 

(2.) The practicing farmer, the practical man, is, as a rule, 
in all cases in which he directs his estate, not quite adapted to 
give instruction, not suitable as a teacher for beginners, but 
indeed — capacity and desire aside — to be recommended as a 



118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

model and pattern for trusty young farmers well grounded in 
the elements. 

(3.) Grood schooling is most important at present for the 
farmer, and must therefore not be interrupted before the age 
of seventeen. 

(4.) After suitable schooling the learning of the practice can 
be begun on such middling and smaller estates where the chief 
design is the education of young farmers, and where only a 
number of scholars proportioned to the circumstances of the 
farm are taken. When the instruction is finished through 
the assistance of schools where the languages and the applied 
sciences are taught, and others, nothing further will remain. 

(5.) After a stay of one or two years in such a practical 
preparatory school, it is most judicious for the young man to 
serve some time as volunteer or under steward on a larger 
estate. 

Now and then a change is to be recommended, though not 
too frequently. 

(6.) Only well-trained young men should be admitted into 
the higher institutes. 

(7.) The higher institute should have in view only the scien- 
tific training, such as answers for the higher development of 
the profession and science. 

(8.) The most judicious location is therefore the university, 
in case a capable corps of instruction and requisite apparatus 
can be furnished. 

(9.) The establishment of chairs of agriculture at the uni- 
versities, and their adequate endowment, should be desired for 
the agricultural interest, as well as for all others. 

(10.) The connection of scientific or other agricultural 
institutes with large estates, is only useful when these are 
carried on quite independently by themselves, and either the 
director, or perhaps one of the professors, has the management 
of the domain. 

(11.) The farm property so situated will most. judiciously be 
carried on as a model establishment, but in this case, without 
regard to the institute, and to secure respect, it should issue 
the most complete public accounts.. Such an establishment 
need not be located in immediate connection with the institute 
of instruction, and may be from five to eight miles away. 



1 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 119 

(12.) A place and location for experiments, the special field 
of instruction belonging to the institute, should not be wanting, 
yet it should serve only for the purposes of science and instruc- 
tion, and therefore not be carried on with reference to the 
highest profit. 

(13.) The professors of agriculture should be fitly educated, 
practically and scientifically, and be appointed only on the 
ground of this special fitness. 

(14.) The present stand-point of science requires the ap- 
pointment of special professors for the more important aux- 
iliary branches, and the holding of several departments by one 
person is impracticable. 

(15.) The teaching of the auxiliary sciences is judicious for 
farmers, but never should be given as the so-called agricultural 
science. 

(16.) The course of instruction in agriculture can be com- 
pleted in two years only in case of a good preparatory educa- 
tion to begin with. Those less thoroughly prepared will have 
to devote one or more extra terms to the study of the auxiliary 
sciences. Institutes which profess to teach the whole of agri- 
culture to those imperfectly prepared, in two years, are worthy 
of no confidence. 

(17.) The student of agriculture must have full control of 
his actions, like other students, and not feel under restraint. 

(18.) The connection of lower grade schools (where the 
pupils do the work) with the higher institutes, is to be rejected. 

(19.) It is desirable, if the institutes are connected with 
universities, and properly founded and endowed, to have 
experimental stations, adequately endowed, created in connec- 
tion with them. 

(20.) The maintenance of institutes located from financial 
or other reasons in connection with a university, appears then 
the more secure, if reorganized and carried on according to 
this plan. 

The great majority of what are called agricultural schools in 
Europe are mere manual labor schools, and on a very limited 
scale at that. In Ireland alone there are one hundred and 
thirty-four such schools. France has three regional schools on 
the same footing as that at Grignon, though I believe the two 
others are not quite so flourishing, one agronomic institute at 



120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Versailles, and many inferior schools, carried on in a small 
way, where, in addition to the elements of education, more or 
less instruction is given in agriculture, and where the pupils 
have to work ; and this is the case in many other continental 
countries. In some of their schools the preponderance of other 
studies is so great that it is not easy to see why they are called 
agricultural schools. There are, besides, many special schools 
which are frequently called agricultural schools ; as, for 
instance, the school for the management of forests, at Tharand. 

It is desirable that we should fix in our minds some definite 
aim and develop beforehand the precise object that we wish to 
attain ; that is, whether we shall establish a college on the plan 
of the higher scientific institutes abroad, or on that of the 
schools of practice, contenting ourselves with a lower scale of 
scientific attainment for the sake of the advantages of a more 
skilful, and perhaps a more enlightened practice. It is hardly 
reasonable to expect, if we may judge from the experience in 
other countries, to make thoroughly scientific agriculturists in 
the course of two or three, or even four years, if a large part 
of the time of the pupil is to be devoted to manual labor on 
the farm. At the same time it may be said that we do not wish 
to educate our sons so as to make them feel above work on 
the farm. No school that accomplished such a result would 
long commend itself to the confidence of the people. 

The work of deciding this question satisfactorily and of carry- 
ing into operation a scheme of such magnitude as that now 
proposed in most of the loyal States of the Union is one of great 
difficulty and responsibility, and one in which the parties on 
whom the responsibility rests will need the confidence, the 
forbearance and the cordial cooperation of the people. It will 
require caution, judgment and practical wisdom, on the one 
hand, and a candid appreciation of the difficulties and the 
entertainment of reasonable expectations, on the other. It 
will require faith in the application of science to the improve- 
ment of practice. We know that it has elevated other arts, 
improved the appliances of labor and cheapened the production 
of the necessaries of life. Why should it not lead, within a rea- 
sonable time, to more enlightened processes of farm-work, bring 
mind and thought to bear upon the labors of the hand, and 
infuse new spirit into the whole farming community ? 



